Adaptation Mode Style
by MissCar
Summary: AU season 5: Sequel to Gossip Mode Style. New relationships, villains, and countries, same old rumor mill. Certain past decisions are about to bite some of our favorite people in the fashionable backside. B/D, ATS/MH, G/OC, JS/A, W/C, BT/HT and M/C
1. Drunken Honesty

**Title:** Adaptation _Mode_ Style

This is the sequel to Gossip Mode Style.

**Summary:** Everything is changing.

Can Betty and Daniel deal with going from friends to lovers? Can they survive working for competing publishers in a brand new city? Can Amanda and Matt handle becoming parents? Can Marc really change his commitment phobic ways? Can he get back what he once loss? Can he adjust to life at Mode without Wilhelmina? Can Wilhelmina really be happy without making other people miserable? Can Monique function without playing matchmaker? Can they all really survive Betty being in London?

**Pairings: **D/BS, MH/ATS, W/C, J/A, H/BT, G/OC, M/T to become M/C

**Rating:** Eventually M for language and sexual situations in later chapters

This story takes place in the **Gossip Universe**. The major differences will be summarized in the next chapter. The biggest difference is Amanda and Matt got together before he left for Africa resulting in a much shorter A/D relationship and a MH/ATS pregnancy.

If part one of the prologues looks familiar that's because it is. In honor of Earth Day, I am recycling an old story. The prologue is a re-edited version of the story Confessions of a Frustrated Mode assistant. It has been reworked to fit the Gossip Universe. Although I will admit it is very different than the original story.

Feedback always appreciated. Please review

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Ugly Betty_ or any other version of the show. This is just a way to release a lot of stress and not cry over the cancellation.

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Prologue Part I: Drunken Honesty

**June 13, 2009 12:22 AM**

Marc sat in a trendy bar in a hotel nursing his fourth whiskey of the evening. He had been sitting there ever since he ditched Amanda an hour ago. She tried to be there for him but it wasn't working. She was his best friend but sometimes she didn't get it. He couldn't deal with false comfort right now.

It was already close to midnight, but he did not care. So far he avoided four phone calls from Amanda, three from Betty, and one from his evil backstabbing boss the wicked bitch of the Upper East Side. He was in no mood for pity tonight.

Finding out you lost your dream job in the fashion industry to somebody who thought Jimmy Choo was a type of candy would drive anybody straight to the bottle. The realization that it was your own fault because you were too afraid to try something new was another thing entirely.

Normally he was not one for hard liquor preferring a Chocolate Martini or a Screaming Orgasm. Neither of those would improve his mood on this night. Today was a hard liquor kind of day. If only he could find a "Screaming Orgasm" that was not in a glass, maybe he would not be drowning his sorrows in hard liquor.

There has not been much of that recently. He didn't have the time for anything substantial nor did he want to. At least that's what he told himself.

What happened with Jodie definitely did not count. He was trying to repress what he did with his YEIT instructor. Unfortunately, there was not enough alcohol in Manhattan for that.

He was hurt and angry with both Wilhelmina and Daniel. He was angry with himself for believing Wilhelmina cared about anything but herself. He didn't resent Betty at all. That is a lie. He hates her a little.

He knew she worked hard and was brilliant at what she did. He worked just as hard and was stuck. She would make a wonderful editor at a magazine that did not focus on fashion. She was the only person in the world who could miss match designer clothing in a way that made them so grossly unfashionable. She didn't even want to write for a fashion magazine.

If it were anyone else, he would scream up and down that the person got the job over him because she/he applied on his or her back. (Although she was sure Megan and Jacqueline were already spreading that rumor around as he tried not to cry into his Glass. He may join them once he was sober anyway. Just because he doesn't believe it doesn't mean he won't gossip about it.)

Betty would never do anything like that. Even if Daniel finally got a clue and realized he only married Molly because she was a Betty clone, nothing would come of it. Betty is just too good of a person to get a position by sleeping with the boss, even if she is in love with him. Why does she have to be so good? He really hated her sometimes.

After finishing his fourth shot of the night and receiving another phone call from the evil one, he realized he should probably go find his master. She probably needed to fit him for a new choke collar.

Instead, he ordered another shot. He could not take Wilhelmina's fake words. She went too far this time. He was tired of advancing Wilhelmina's career while she placed his career on a sacrificial altar.

He wondered if Wilhelmina ever really intended to give him the editor position. Maybe it was just a ploy to get him to stay. The diva probably did not want to break in a new assistant. She knew he wanted to stay at Mode and she dangled the perfect carrot in front of him. Again, Wilhelmina only cared about Wilhelmina. He should know that by now.

From beauty ejections to blackmailing surrogate mothers, Marc did everything she asked of him. He should have been in jail 1000 times over because of some things he has done in her name. Yet he did them anyway for her sake. She was his own personal idol and he would do anything for her.

She never said thank you. She never gave him anything other than adequate on his employee evaluation. A lesser person would have turned state's evidence against the wicked Bitch of the Upper Eastside long ago. A stronger person than him would stand up to Wilhelmina, but that wasn't him. One of these days she will just self-destruct and he will watch her powerless to do anything.

If the entire evening had not been humiliating enough, the cherry on top was the presence of his ex-boyfriend Cliff. He was a reminder of how his own fears kept him from something great. So caught up in preparing for his new job that he did not accept for the sake of Wilhelmina the heartless, he was unaware that his ex-boyfriend was nominated in the best cover category for his photography.

He was completely shocked to see him at the ceremony. His date for the evening surprisingly enough was fashion designer Briana West-Hartley. She was the super rich designer aunt of Betty's Boy Toy, even though she was only nine years older than Matt.

He always admired Briana because she was one of the few women that could tell Wilhelmina Slater off and lived to tell about it. She stopped advertising in Mode in June of 2006 just to prove a point. Adding insult to injury, she started advertising in _Player_ when diversity conscious Monique Osborn took over. Briana West-Hartley was one of the most brilliant business minds in the fashion industry. Then again she was a Hartley.

If it were any other ex-boyfriend, he would not be jealous. However, he remembered a conversation with Cliff after he discovered a photograph of an ex girlfriend in Cliff's apartment. Cliff told him that he loved people not gender. Therefore, it could be possible that his ex went to the dark side again. To make Marc's evening, complete his ex-boyfriend's "date" was now sitting next to him at the bar in the hotel sipping a mango Margarita, Betty's favorite drink. Cliff was just another thing he let slip away. He needed another drink.

"Can I please have another one? This time may be a scotch"

"Are you drinking liquor like water because of a stupid guy or some other reason?" Briana asked as she continued to drink her beverage.

"If only it were a guy. Unfortunately, it is some other reason. How did you know would be a guy?" Marc replied, taking the drink from the bartender.

"We met before when you were the assistant for Wilhelmina Slater. You spent half the photo shoot hitting on the models."

"One of the few perks of my horrible job as one of Wilhelmina's flying monkeys."

"You're still her assistant? I didn't think anybody could take working for her for five years without spending time in a psychiatric ward." She said with a laugh.

"Unfortunately, yes. The only reason I'm not in a straitjacket is because I couldn't find one with a designer label." Marc said with a bitter laugh as he took another drink of the scotch.

"Maybe I should look into that. I could design an entire line for individuals with mental illness who still want to be fashionable."

"Maybe Wilhelmina can be your model. I would love to put her in a straitjacket. It would be ironic considering what she did to her sister." Did he really say that out loud? He really did love Wilhelmina; there were just some days when he wanted to strangle her. If something were to happen to her he would be devastated.

"What did she do to her sister?"

"She had me switch her sister's psychiatric medication with fat blocker to trigger a psychotic break. I probably should not have said that. Too much liquor after being stabbed in the back by your boss tends to loosen lips."

"Briana, the car will be here in 15 minutes. I called Mo's cell phone, but could not get an answer. According to one of the waiters, Mo ran out of here quickly without saying a word to ..." He stopped speaking when he notice Marc. He and Cliff stood there looking at each other in shock.

"Hello Mr. St Paul. I was just speaking with your lovely date for the evening. I did not know you switched back to the female side of things." Marc said in a very cold voice.

"After what happened you do not exactly have a right to be upset Mr. St James." Cliff answered pointing out how silly the last name thing was.

"He is the Marc." She said in a way that told him she knew way too much about him. Neither man responded to her. "I am going to let you two talk to each other, as I call Mo again. Just so you know, I came here as Cliff's escort because my friend was nominated in the best men's magazine category but she left before she accepted her award. Also, I never miss an occasion to torture my half-brother." Briana said as she left the bar.

"Your "friends" with a fashion designer now, you hate fashion?" Marc put emphasize on the word friend.

"We have known each other since I was in college. B is different. For one thing, she designs clothing for the Mode girl who isn't a size -2."

They stayed silent for a few moments. Finally, Marc broke the silence. "Congratulations on winning the award for best cover."

"Thank you. So what have you been up to lately?" Marc knew it was a weak attempt at small talk, but he was just happy that Cliff was still speaking to him.

"Being Wilhelmina's flunky and believing the dilution the she sees me as anything other than her personal slave. Currently I am stuck at a dead end job with no chance of ever getting out. Betty gets the job I want because Daniel is in love with her. You know the usual. I did get into YEIT." He said trying to accentuate the positive.

"I remember you were spending so much time on the project, congratulations." He almost sounded gracious.

"Thank you for letting me use the photographs for the mock magazine even after we broke up."

"I wasn't going to jeopardize your career just because we broke up."

"Thank you for caring about someone other than yourself. You are the only one besides Amanda. Can I please have another scotch?" He wasn't drunk enough to make nice with his ex.

"How many of those have you had tonight?" He almost sounded concern when he asked the question.

"This will be the seventh one."

"Maybe that should be the last one. You never could hold your liquor very well. You always do stupid things when you're drunk." The last part was said in a whisper that Marc still heard.

"Such as telling Wilhelmina's sister how Wilhelmina really acquire the sperm for her almost Meade baby or how I screwed up our relationship by fucking someone else."

"I wasn't going to bring that up."

"Why not, I think about it every time I pass by that guy's apartment. I live in that building now that Miss I-stole-your-job moved back to Queens. I took over her apartment with Mandy." Marc said as he brought the drink to his lips.

"I don't want you to do something you'll regret again." Cliff said taking the shot from Marc's hand.

"Already did that and I was stone cold sober at the time. I got a job offer to be a Junior Editor at Vogue."

"That's wonderful," Marc could tell that despite everything Cliff was genuinely happy.

"I didn't take the job. I almost took the job, but Wilhelmina promised me a similar position at Mode."

"You have worked there a very long time. I can understand why you would decide to stay."

"Except I didn't get the new editor job, Betty did. Which is why I am sitting here drinking scotch with my ex-boyfriend who I let get away because I was too scared." He wasn't sure if he was too afraid to move on from Mode or Wilhelmina.

"You also lost your chance at Vogue because you were too afraid to step outside your comfort zone. This is what you did with us and now you are doing it again with your career. You need to stop being afraid of change."

"It's too late for Vogue, they've already filled the position was someone else. It is too late for us as well?" It was not a statement this time, rather a question.

"That position has already been filled by someone else as well." Cliff said as he let Marc take the shot.

"I guess it happens." Marc said finishing his seventh drink of the night.

"That doesn't mean that the next time you should keep yourself from taking advantage of a great opportunity. Promise me that the next time you're offered a great career opportunity you won't let Wilhelmina or anyone else, including yourself, keep you from taking it."

"I promise," Marc said as he suddenly became sick. Maybe he should have stopped at six drinks.

"Just because we're not together doesn't mean you can't call me occasionally. I think we can be friends at this point." He wasn't so sure he was ready for that.

"I thought you burned my picture in effigy." He joked.

"After I sent back that girdle and left a few nasty messages with Amanda I got over it. I do not hate you as much as I did in the beginning. Besides Briana is also an ex and we are friends now."

"I never got any of that until a month and a half ago. Amanda is very overprotective. I think I am going to be Sick." Marc said as he ran from the bar to the nearest men's room, leaving behind a very confused Cliff.

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The next morning, Marc wakes up to Amanda giving him a bottled of water and some Tylenol. He tries not to think about how much he missed his ex boyfriend. He wondered if Cliff was the one who brought him home last night. When he saw the cab receipt he knows that it was Amanda that brought him home last night

He tried not to think about the fact that Amanda will probably be the only constant in his life. He also tried not to think about how he was completely stuck in his current situation. He also tried not to think about how it really was his own fault. Nothing will change unless he changed it. Did he really want things to change?


	2. Daniel Meade’s Epiphany

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter or added this story to alert.

This is part two of the prologue. I want to balance out Marc's epiphany in the first part. I hope to have chapter one up by Monday.

**Summary:** Everything is changing.

Can Betty and Daniel deal with going from friends to lovers? Can they survive working for competing publishers in a brand new city? Can Amanda and Matt handle becoming parents? Can Marc really change his commitment phobic ways? Can he get back what he once loss? Can he adjust to life at Mode without Wilhelmina? Can Wilhelmina really be happy without making other people miserable? Can Monique function without playing matchmaker? Can they all really survive Betty being in London?

This chapter takes place around episode 3.1

Disclaimer: I do not own Ugly Betty or any international reincarnation of the show. No copyright infringement is intended. This is meant to be a placebo until we have all come to terms that there will not be a season five.

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Prologue Part II: Daniel Meade's

**Epiphany**

**August 10, 2008 11:33 PM Eastern standard Time**

He could think of a million reasons why he did not call her. He could not bring himself to tell her that his own sister stabbed him in the back and took away one of the few things he cared about besides her. He was now the failure that everyone always said he was everyone but her. He put his heart and soul into _Mode_ and Alexis took it all away_._(He did now anyway). Worst of all, he just let his sister and her evil accomplice do it.

He did not fight Alexis's decision, because in his heart he believed he was the constant screw up that everyone saw him as. Maybe that is why after over a month he could not bring himself to tell her that the two of them have been "reassigned" to _Player _magazine.

Actually, it was just he that was reassigned to _Player_. If she wanted to, she could stay at _Mode_. The thought of her not being with him scare the hell out of him. This last month was torture. He couldn't imagine not being able to brainstorm with her in the middle of the day or console her on a project ideal. He wasn't sure he could be an editor without her.

Before he met her, he made being a moron and a screw up an art form. At that time, being the editor of _Mode_ was about pleasing his father and having a different model in his bed every night. Mode was just something handed to him on a silver platter like everything else in life. It was not something he earned and therefore he did not see the need to put any effort into it.

He realizes now that without her, he would only last a month as editor of Mode, not nearly two years. What would he do without her? He was not sure.

Now he loved his job. She gave him that. She was the one that showed him he was more than the playboy of New York and definitely more than his last name. She made him learn about the magazine industry. He now understood every aspect of the publishing process from the magazine's theme to the letter to editor.

Because of her, now he saw this job as doing something that he was passion about and making a difference in the world. The proudest day of his career was the Alternative Fashion show. Not only did that show make _Mode_ the star of Fashion Week 2008, it also showed the magazine's readership that being fashionable had nothing to do with being a "skinny hanger".

This did not matter anymore because Alexis and Satan the Diva took that away from him. His two years of hard work meant nothing and now he was back to being the screw up and "player" everybody, including himself, saw him as. She never saw him as this and that thought made him feel warm and fuzzy in a way that he couldn't comprehend at the moment.

Before he met her, everything he did in this life centered on pleasing "them" and living up to "their" image of who he was supposed to be. If he was truly honest with himself, at a certain point she became his only motivation for doing anything good in his life. He is not sure when this happened, but he knows it has. Instead of making his father and later his sister happy, he only cares about pleasing her. Her smile literally makes his day.

Maybe that is the real reason he could not tell her that he was no longer editor in chief of _Mode_ magazine. His heart could not take the sound of disappointment in her voice. He would shatter into a million pieces once he realized he could not make her happy. Lately he is only happy when she is happy.

For over a month, he tried to tell her what happened. Every night phone in hand he would dial her number. Every night he would panic and never complete the call. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to her.

He needed to talk to her. He was just starting to realize that not speaking to her every day made him feel empty. He missed the sound of her voice and actually speaking to someone who just understood what he was thinking instantly.

Now on the night before her return to work, he sat in his new apartment with his cell phone in hand, trying to get up the nerve to tell the most important person in his life that he was no longer the EIC of _Mode_. He wondered when she became the most important person in his life. He could not pinpoint the moment when she took that place.

He tried to call her 20 times that first night. But every time he tried he could not bring himself to press the green button to send the call. At first, he told himself he did not want to ruin her trip to Rome or her first night back with the supposed love of her life. (Although what type of "love of your life" would knock someone else up while they were in love with you. He would never do that to her any one.)

The real reason he did not call her that day is that if he finds out that she is leaving him for good, to be with Henry, it may just kill him. He realized the thought of her leaving would be devastating. Especially if she was leaving him for someone who didn't really love her. That first night he came to the conclusion that he couldn't live without her.

If he would have checked his messages like any same person he would know that Betty didn't choose Henry over him. He means that Betty did not choose Henry over Gio. No, he was right the first time. Even if he was in complete denial about it, he knew that he saw Betty leaving for any reason as a personal rejection of him.

Three days after the baseball game from hell, he finally brings himself to check his blackberry. There are hundreds of messages in his account for him to go through without her there to filter the most important ones out for him. They include several inquiries of why he is leaving Mode and a few emails from employees that will miss him. He only cares about the messages from Betty. If she did not label it, "I'm not going with Henry to Arizona," he probably would have never opened the e-mail.

At that moment, it would be easy for him to send her a message about everything that has happened. After a 20-minute argument with himself, he decides that this is not the type of news you give your best friend in an e-mail. Instead, he tells her about playing video games with DJ the night before and breaking her previous high score on her favorite dancing videogame.

That night he tries to call her, but after five failed attempts, he gives up. He ends up watching The _Little Mermaid_ and _Beauty and the Beast_ in French in a desperate attempt to pick up the language so that he can communicate with DJ. Even though he has seen each film with her 100 times during the great Henry debacle, he still does not understand anything being said. It makes him feel better because they remind him of her. He realizes that even things that remind him of her bring in peace.

Two days later, she starts sending him photographs of her travels. He misses her so much after a week; he is halfway ready to take DJ on a tour of America just so he can accidentally bump into her at the Grand Canyon. Instead, he saves every single one of her emails and uses a picture of her as the wallpaper on his cell phone.

He chooses to reply to her by e-mail because it is easier that way. If he talks to her, she will be able to pick up on his uneasiness instantly. No one else can read him like her. He tries not to think about how he scans every message from her from mentions of casual hook ups or her having sex with strangers. He tries not to think about how happy he was to know she stayed single all summer.

Tomorrow she will be back, but he still could not bring himself to talk to her on the phone. He felt like a 15-year-old boy trying to get up the courage to call the head cheerleader and ask her out on a date. Except he didn't think of Betty that way contrary to what the rumor mill believe. The fact that he has been having the occasional wet dream involving making love to Betty on top of his desk is completely irrelevant. He blames Renee for pudding that particular idea in his head.

He tells himself that because Betty is a beautiful woman he is having these types of dreams about her. He tells himself it is perfectly normal for him to have those types of fantasies about a very beautiful woman, it does not mean anything. He tries not to think about how he uses the term "make love" in relationship to Betty instead of the term "fuck". He also tries not to think about how the thought of Betty having sex with anybody else makes him want to throw up. Instead of focusing on that, he focuses on trying to call her for the 522nd time this summer.

As he has for the last month, he puts the phone down and gives up on calling Betty. He will see her tomorrow and everything will be okay. She will not leave him. She can't leave him."

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**15 days later**

He cannot bear to watch her pack her things to take back upstairs. He cannot bear to watch her leave. He cannot say goodbye to her. He tries to tell himself that she is leaving _Player_ not him. His mind knows that, but his heart doesn't. He loves her too much to watch her leave him.

Oh fuck, did he just say the L word? She is his best friend. Of course, he loves her. However, he loves her just as a friend. Except he's pretty sure you're not supposed to be having now daily sex dreams about your best friend. You are not supposed to wonder how your best friend would look dressed up in the lingerie set that all the other models are wearing for the photo shoot she feels is beneath your dignity.

If he loved her as just a friend, then why does it feel like she is ripping his heart in two as she walks to the elevator? If he only loves her as a friend, then why does he feel like his entire world is falling apart right now? If he only loves her as a friend, why is she the most important person in his life? The answer is obvious.

He is in love with his best friend. He is in love with her in the "happily ever after, want to raise a family with her" way. He is in love with her in the "I want to see her become the greatest EIC ever" way. He is in love with her in the "I can't live without her," way. He is completely in love with Betty Suarez.

**Oh, fuck!**


	3. The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter or added this story to alert.

Just to let you know, I am not going to be writing accents. Voice recognition software just does not do accents well. I am also using the American English version of the software. (Update: Apparently, Voice recognition software just does not recognize anything well. This is the revised version. Special thank you to JustWriter2 for Pointing out several errors.)

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Chapter One: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

May 24th, 2010 5:01 AM Greenwich mean time

At 5:01 AM Daniel Meade woke up to the sounds of India Arie coming from his girlfriend's cell phone/alarm clock. He had to suppress the urge to throw Betty's phone across the room and continue cuddling his girlfriend. They didn't fall asleep until probably 1:00 AM after Amanda's late night phone call and the impromptu make out session. He considers it a testament to his maturity that he didn't rip off her sleepwear and make love to her until they both passed out from exhaustion. Unfortunately, certain parts of him did not get the "no sex with Betty yet" memo and were very awake at the moment. However, Betty was not.

Apparently, a song about not being your average girl from the video, was not waking Betty up this morning. He would have to take drastic measures. He shifted his position so that he was half on top of his girlfriend and started placing gentle kisses along her shoulders and collarbone. Lucky for him she decided to wear a tank top. When he started to explore the upper part of her cleavage, she actually started stirring underneath him.

"Five more minutes, Hilda." He stopped kissing her and pulled away only to see her giggling.

"You did that on purpose." He said halfway tempted to go back to his previous activity.

"Of course I did." She said turning off her phone.

"That's good. I was starting to get worried there. I didn't think your sister would wake you up like that."

"Hilda preferred throwing cold water on me. Although, Justin was very grabby as a baby, but I really didn't have anything to grab until I was about 16."

"Yes but the cleavage fairy made up for it in sheer quantity. I enjoy the fact that you're my first girlfriend that is a natural D." He said as he leaned down to kiss her as one hand went to cup her left breast. He is not sure if she is a D or not, but it's better to round up.

"You're not going to do that right now are you?" She asked as she pulled away from his kiss slightly but did not push hands away from where they were massaging.

"Yes. Why do you think I got you the 12 hour mouthwash?" He said as he went back down to kiss her again but like before she pulled away and pushed his hands away a little.

"Is this weird?"

"What do you mean?"

"We're going straight from being just friends to living together. We have not even gone on a date yet. Technically we have been together for three days and we've already gone farther than I had with most of my other boyfriends by that point."

"It's not weird, it's just different. If you want to go on a "date", we can do something next weekend. Is it really necessary? I think all those times we order Chinese Food when we were working late count as dates. I would also count all those times I came over to your apartment with pizza and I ended up spending the night. It's different when you know somebody like I know you. It's not as if I need to go on a date so I can find out your favorite color is indigo or that you have a tendency to binge eat French fries when you're nervous. I know all these little things already. Just like you know I absolutely hate the color orange but wouldn't agree to change the color scheme just because it would make Wilhelmina happy."

"You know you can change the color scheme now. You are the one in charge. I know that absolutely terrifies you."

"That's why this is not awkward. You know I'm absolutely afraid of being at _Mode_ UK without you, mom or even Wilhelmina to save me when I fuck up everything."

"You're not going to completely F everything up." It sounded so adorable that even when they were alone together she would not use profanity. He was personally looking forward to breaking her of the habit in a few weeks. "I will let you in on a secret. I'm absolutely terrified of running a magazine on my own. Everything except for the name of the magazine I get the final say on and I'm absolutely terrified. It's okay because I know you believe in me. You'll be fine because I believe in you." She leaned over to embrace him and he took the opportunity to give her an earth shattering "I want to take your clothes off, but we don't have the time" kiss.

"See this is why it is weird."

"Are you uncomfortable with this?" He sincerely doubted that. He was an expert at picking up female arousal, and it was obvious that Betty was very aroused.

"I'm not uncomfortable. I really do want to kiss you. You're a really good kisser."

"Thank you. You are really good yourself. I absolutely love that thing you do with your tongue. It's like you're rolling your Rs in my mouth."

"It's just getting used to having a physical relationship with you. It's like being a virgin all over again."

"Are you going to sing Madonna lyrics?"

"Be serious Daniel," Betty said throwing her pillow at him. In retaliation, he gave her a light kiss on the lips.

"I'm being quite serious. I get it. This is the first time in forever that I have done a relationship that did not go straight to sex. I do not want to mess this up. I am really not sure I can live without you. At the same time you can obviously tell that I want to jump you." He said pointing to the obvious evidence to the truth of that statement.

"I always thought that was your normal reaction first thing in the morning. I mean every single time we have slept in the same bed you have woken up with a…" She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. He thought it was just too adorable.

"Hard on. If you can cause one, you should be able to say the word." He said, as he pressed closer to her.

"Fine you win. Every time we sleep in the same bed, you always wake up with an erection. Are you happy now?" She said this with her beautiful pout that made him want to kiss her again.

"Very, although we're going to have to work on your dirty talk. Also, I seriously doubt I got an erection every single time." Instead of responding verbally she just looked away from him like that one time she caught him without a shirt on walking out of Amanda's apartment.

"You mean every single time? Even the first time and the times right after Molly's death?" She just looked down and nodded her head yes.

"Great my body knew before I did. I did not know I was in love with you until the summer DJ stayed with me before we knew he was Alexis's son and not mine." One of the other advantages to living in England was he would get to see his nephew more.

"You knew two years ago?"

"Kind of, but I went straight into denial."

"That explains the State Department liaison on top of the copier."

"I try not to think about that. We really wasted two years?"

"Maybe we were not ready two years ago. Besides I would have never met Matt and you would have never met Molly. That means Connor would have never ended up with Wilhelmina and Matt would've never found Amanda."

"Instead of two happy people we have six happy people."

"Don't forget about your future god son or daughter."

"Maybe it was a good thing." Daniel said as he started kissing her again. At that moment, Betty's phone started playing Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake.

"I assume you hit the snooze button?" Daniel asked as he pulled himself off of her. He tried to think unsexy thoughts like his mom kissing her now ex boyfriend. That should kill any erection he had, Betty induced or not. Unfortunately, the song was not helping because he really wanted to act on that "I am going to have you naked by the end of this song" line.

"When I don't get enough sleep like last night, I usually sleep through the first alarm. I'm guessing you don't need to get ready yet. I do. You probably can go back to sleep." Betty said reluctantly as she left his embrace and their bed. He loved the concept of it being their bed.

"Candy is coming by at six to do a pre briefing before the 8:00 AM walk through with the two managing editors. Then I have a 9:00 AM staff meeting where I tell everybody that the crazy American is their new boss. At 11 I have a meeting with the first internal candidate for the position of creative director. Also at some point I have to fire the old creative director. "

"At least you don't have a 7:00 AM breakfast meeting with a potential advertiser."

"That's tomorrow. I wouldn't be averse to having lunch with my favorite editor from _London Hub magazine_ today." He said walking over to her to kiss her one more time

"I'll check my blackberry as soon as I use the bathroom."

"Good idea. I'm going to go use the bathroom down the hall otherwise there's no way I'll be ready in time." He said this as he got ready to take a very cold shower.

* * *

"Candy you're a god." Daniel said as he grabbed the cappuccino out of her hand.

"He's only saying that because you brought coffee. Apparently, he hasn't figured out where his new coffee maker is yet." His girlfriend said as she grabbed the last of her things to go out the door.

"I know where my coffee maker is. It still being shipped over here a long with the furniture I wanted to keep. Where's your coffee maker?"

"Matt's probably using that right now or rather in a few hours. Although you really should just go buy a new coffee maker. You know your old one will not work here."

"I will add it to the "things to order" list. It will be here tomorrow." Candy said pulling out her blackberry.

"Why is Matt using your old coffee maker?"

"I'm subleasing him my apartment completely furnished. He sold his loft in March during the entire breakup fiasco and Amanda will not move in with him right now. This way they are close to each other, but not on top of each other."

"How long do you think that will last?" Daniel asked her.

"Probably longer than me and you having separate bedrooms." Betty said giving him a very long and passionate kiss before grabbing her briefcase from the couch and started out for the door. Daniel pulled her back and kissed her again this time he was pretty sure he heard a camera go off. He couldn't turn around until Betty was walking down the front steps of their house.

"What are you doing?"

"Monique asked me to get a picture. She wanted proof." Candy said replacing her camera/phone in her bag.

"You do remember you work for me now?"

"Unfortunately yes. Let's go over the advertising budget for the last six months before we go over your schedule for today. Did you read through any of the pre briefing materials that I left you Friday before you came over here to surprise Betty."

"There was pre briefing material?"

"Did you do any work this weekend or did you just have a sex marathon?" Candy said in irritation.

"I resent that remark. I'm not like that anymore." Then candy gave him a look that he was positive she got from Monique. It said "I know you're lying to me".

"I didn't have sex this weekend. I may have spent the majority of the time making out with Betty."

"You really don't make this job easy. OK, we have an hour for me to brief you on everything going on. You're so treating me to lunch this week at the best restaurant in town for making sure you don't look like a complete ass in 2 hours."

* * *

By the time they got into the town car, his head hurt. Candy went over so much data that he felt like he did in college when he crammed for an exam after not showing up to class for the entire semester. The situation in London was even worse than they thought it was. Not only were they being killed by the magazine owned by his girlfriend's new boss, they have been hemorrhaging advertisers since the EIC scandal broke a few months ago.

As they were riding in the car to the office, he flipped through the last four issues of _Mode UK_. If it wasn't for the cover and the occasional London landmark he would swear this was the American version of the magazine. The layout was 95% identical to American _Mode._ There were some local advertisers but the majority were American companies. There was no real local culture reflected in the pages. Not that he really knew what would be appropriate, he just realize that the magazine seemed too American.

The creepy experience of Déjà vu continued as he walked into the _Mode_ offices. The layout was so similar that if you closed all the blinds you would think you were still in New York.

"Doesn't make you feel like you're trapped in the twilight zone?" He asked candy as they walked through the halls.

"I'm thinking more of a TV show with a budget that was so low they couldn't redress the location to make it look different. This is just too creepy. It looks exactly like _Mode_ New York."

"I think that's exactly what your former leader was going for. Faye was apparently into everything being exactly the same internationally." This was said by a dark hair woman with a slight Indian accent.

"You must be Sumreen the managing editor for features?" Daniel said extending his hand uneasily. Did they even do handshakes in England? Maybe he should have read through the e-mail Monique sent him on cultural sensitivity.

"You must be the owner of the company. I knew things are bad, but I didn't think they are bad enough for you to come out here. You're not here to close down the magazine are you?"

"No, I'm here to save the magazine."

"Good, I just bought a new house." Maybe things were not that different after all.

* * *

"So how did your breakfast meeting go?" Daniel said as he called Betty during the 10 minutes before his 9:00 AM with the entire staff. He was feeling a little less stress after meeting with Sumreen and Diana, the managing editor for the creative side of the house. Both women were quite capable at their jobs but they were not ready to take over a magazine completely; especially when the incompetent creative director over ruled every single one of their ideas to make the magazine more viable. Diana and Sumreen were both trying to make the magazine more local. David wanted things to stay the same.

"It went well. I'm not used to doing this part of the job. I'm starting to wish you took me on more of those boring meetings to get advertisers."

"You'll get used to it. You're the one who taught me how to sell a magazine instead of just selling myself."

"You're quite good at both. At lease with Mode people knew what to expect. I'm selling everybody on something that they haven't even seen yet. We barely have mock-ups of the first cover together."

"You'll be fine. Are we still on for lunch?"

"Barring some catastrophe. Love you."

"You know this is the first time I've heard you say that to me over the phone and it not be in person."

"That doesn't make it less true."

"Daniel are you done in their having phone sex with your girlfriend?"

"I have to go. Candy is getting antsy. Love you too."

"No wonder Monique gave you to me."

"She sent me to London with you so I wouldn't take a job elsewhere. Here is your book for today. I have the top three resumes for the candidates already in there. You will meet with Diana at 11. You are scheduled to take care of the David issue at 10."

"Where is David?"He had still yet to meet the elusive David Pratt. Although from what he heard from the ladies, the man lived up to his last name perfectly. He even managed to spend the afternoon with the former EIC in rehab last week but David could not find time to meet with the owner of the company.

"He is probably still passed out drunk in his flat. The man shows up to work pissed 90% of the time." Sumreen said to him.

"What's wrong with him showing up to work angry all the time? That was Wilhelmina's normal disposition and it made her more efficient." At that moment Sumreen and her colleague started laughing at him. Candy deliberately had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

"I assume you were too busy sticking your tongue down Betty's throat to look at the local vernacular cheat sheet I also put into your weekend briefing materials. Honestly, why do I prepare this stuff if you don't read it?"

"I promise I'll read it tonight." He will, otherwise Candy may kill him.

"You better. I hate to see you make a complete fool of yourself when you freak out because somebody refers to a cigarette by that same word that those idiots call your girlfriend's nephew." The three were still laughing way too loud for his comfort.

"It's going to be a very long day." Daniel said as he walked into the conference room.

* * *

Fortunately, Daniel made it through the meeting without making a complete fool of himself. That in itself was a miracle. Someone did say something about the fact that he didn't sound like someone from New York. The one thing everybody was afraid of was losing his or her job. Between Connor robbing the company blind last year and the trouble with the recent scandal everyone was petrified. His main goal was to keep everybody calm.

In the afternoon, he would be having one on one meetings with all the department heads and accounting. However, he already had a pretty good idea what was wrong with the magazine. He just wasn't sure how to fix it. The first thing he was doing was changing the color scheme.

It was 10:30 AM and David still wasn't here yet. He's pretty sure he never showed up this late except that time he was trying to live down to everyone's expectations. Since David wasn't there, he called Diana in for the interview early.

Although he loved his office in New York, he did not want to have a replica of it in London. The first thing he was doing after getting the magazine stabilized was having his office renovated.

"I am actually surprised you are even considering me for this position."

"I prefer to hire in house if possible, although there'll be some other candidates from other magazines later on." The truth of the matter is a lot of people did not want to apply for a job at a magazine that seem halfway to the cemetery. "You and Sumreen did a very good job of keeping this magazine from completely falling apart. So let's get this interview started. Why do you want to be creative director of _Mode_ UK?"

Diana seemed pleasant, but she definitely had Wilhelmina's instincts. They were not as well developed because Diana doesn't have anywhere near as much experience. She definitely knew the magazine. More importantly she was willing to change the way things have been done. She got that the industry was dying and to survive they must change. She had all sorts of ideas on how to make the magazine more marketable.

45 minutes into the interview his elusive creative director finally showed up. As predicted by his two managing editors he was obviously hung over. He was currently trying to make a pass at his assistant. This just pissed Daniel off in a very American way.

"Candy, Diana wants to talk to you about a few things for my schedule for the next couple weeks." Candy ran into his office as quickly as possible understanding exactly what Daniel was doing.

"Who the hell are you? I'm the one in charge here." Daniel learned during his time in New York that if you had to tell people you were in charge, that usually meant that you were not.

"I'm your new boss." Daniel said trying to get him to leave the very public area. He didn't want to fire the man in front of everyone. However, David did not listen to anything Daniel was saying. Instead, Daniel spent 15 minutes being yelled at. David's insults didn't bother Daniel at all. He spent four years working with Wilhelmina Slater. He could handle David Pratt. At least Wilhelmina was a challenge.

After looking at his watch one more time, he gave up and fired David in front of everyone. By that point his new favorite person besides Betty called up security. They arrived just in time to keep David from throwing a glass paperweight at his head. Daniel was convinced that he did the worst thing ever as they dragged David out of the office. He seriously doubted anybody will respect him after this. He walked back into his office where Diana and Candy were hiding the entire time.

"Can you push the graphics meeting back to two and push everything else back an hour."

"Considering everything today is "get to know you" meetings, I think I can do that."

"Tuesday there'll be more job interviews and some advertiser meetings. Wednesday will be your very first photo shoot." Diana said to Daniel.

"Did you already hire the models?"

"David did last week. That's the only thing he was really good at. They all fit the anorexic Mode girl image."

"That's good. Fire them all. From now on healthy models only. Also, you can add a few beautiful women who actually look like are readers." Daniel said as he walked out the door.

"Where are you going?" Candy asked him.

"For a walk,"

* * *

That walk was a mistake. He got so lost trying to find Betty's building that he had to call the town car. Inside waiting for him was Betty. The first thing he did was kiss her.

"Maybe you should close the door first?" Betty said breaking the kiss.

"That would probably be a good idea." He said as he closed the door and went back to kissing her. He wondered if Betty had a relationship like this before that was so physical. After a few more minutes, he placed his head on her lap and sighed deeply.

"I'm assuming it was a really bad morning?"

"Really bad. The magazine is a mess. The offices look exactly like they do in New York because Faye had this crazy idea that all _Mode_ magazines around the world should be identical right down to the placement of semi colons."

"It can't be that bad."

Just to prove his point he had the car stopped at a newsstand so they could pick up the latest issue of _Mode_ UK. They were also able to pick up a copy of French _Mode_ as well.

"Okay you're right. It is that bad. This looks like what the magazine looked like before you and Wilhelmina took over." Betty said as she looked over the magazine at the cute little Thai restaurant they found.

"This may explain part of the reason why the sales numbers are falling so drastically."

"You're still sighing. What else is going wrong?" Just because she asked the question he started smiling again.

"I'm not sure if it's going to be a good thing or bad thing to have a girlfriend that can read me so well. I had to fire someone today. It went badly."

"How badly?" she asked him.

"He tried to throw a glass paperweight at me but was stopped by security."

"Look on the bright side, at least security stopped him." She said this in a way that made him laugh a little. "Everything couldn't be that bad. There had to be something positive about this morning."

"Candy is unbelievably good at her job and I am shocked that Monique was willing to let her come with me to London. The two managing editors who have been keeping the magazine afloat for the last three months are both brilliant. There are a lot of good people on the staff. In addition, I implemented the magazine's new diversity approach to models."

"What does that mean?"

"The models in _Mode_ now have to look like normal people. Too bad you work for the competing publisher, otherwise I would put you on the cover in nothing but a black lace bra and panties set. You would have looked so hot in the Million-Dollar Bra. " Apparently Betty wasn't used to him talking to her like this and she started choking on her water.

"It's too soon for that sort of comment?" Daniel asked as he tried to help her.

"Just a little, at least when we are in public. I've never had a boyfriend who has seen me like you before."

"You do remember that your last real boyfriend painted nudes of you?" Very hot nude paintings.

"I didn't pose for any of them." He wondered when it would be the right time to tell Betty that he actually owned every single one of Matt's nude paintings of her.

"It doesn't matter. You are still a very beautiful woman." There was that Betty blush again that he loved so much. He quickly reached over and kissed her gently.

"Enough about the chaos at mode UK, tell me about your morning? It had to be less stressful." He watched her face truly become alive as she told him about everything that happened that morning. She seems so confident and in control as she talked about hiring more members of her staff and working on putting together the first issue that will come out in July.

Apparently starting a magazine from scratch was just as stressful as trying to save one from completely going under. Maybe he had the advantage because this wasn't the first time he kept a magazine from collapsing.

She looked so beautiful as she talked about her magazine. She talked to him about being so happy to be getting her own assistant and getting to write the stories she wants to write. He couldn't help but reach over and kiss her again.

The entire walk back was spent holding hands and exchanging kisses before he had to let her go. He had no choice otherwise he was going to be late for his 2:00 PM meeting.

The afternoon meetings went pretty well except for a few angry phone calls from the now former creative director. He must admit that he had to look up a few of the more colorful insults in Candy's guide to British curse words.

At 3:00 PM everyone at mode UK learn that Monique Osborn was the new co owner of Meade publishing. He was pretty sure he heard a chorus of cheering. Although that maybe some leftover celebrating from this morning. David Pratt was not a very well liked person. Even though most people hate Wilhelmina, they respected her professionally. David was well hated and not respected at all.

It was now almost 6:30 PM and his severe lack of sleep last night was catching up to him. Was it really only a few years ago that he could go clubbing all night and survive a full day of work? Not that he really did any work back then. Then again, maybe it was the dry way the accountants were delivering the bleak news.

He missed that accountant that look like that Star Trek guy. At least he knew to tell jokes during these meetings to keep Daniel from falling asleep. Did it really take 45 minutes to tell him that they were completely screwed unless he managed to get ad sales up by 75% in the next 30 days? Graphs would have really helped. As he exited the meeting Candy was there handing him another cup of coffee.

"Why are you giving me more coffee? I thought I would be leaving at this point."

"While you were dealing with the accountants, the photographer for the Wednesday shoot called and wanted to meet with the new EIC. He was a little angry when he found out he would be working with models that actually look like people. He's in your office. He also tried to hit on me three times."

"I will talk to him. Just in case…"

"I already lined up two possible photographers. I've emailed their digital books to you. "

"Seriously why did Monique let you come to London?"

"I think she was pissed off about that one time I left her at an advertising event at a club to hook up with some guy. You never know with my old boss."

As he walked into his office he was prepared to go over all the reasons why they were doing the new diversity approach that he and Monique agreed to when he saw the last person he expected in his office.

"Becks what are you doing here?"

"Complaining to the idealistic dick who decided to change all the models in my shoot at the last minute. In general, I've been hanging around Europe taking a job here and there. What are you doing here?" Some people never change. At some point over the last two years he stopped communicating with his former friend. It was not anything drastic. They just stopped sending emails to each other.

"We decided that we needed a presence out in Europe. More specifically, I am the idealistic dick who changed all the models in your shoot at the last minute. I am the new EIC."

"Let me guess, Wilhelmina finally took over."

"Not exactly. I'm here to fix the problems here at Mode UK. One of the problems is by not showing models that actually look human, we're alienating part of our readership." The man was looking at him as if he was in a alien.

"What happen to that guy who used to challenge me at fashion week to see who could hook up with the hottest model there?"

"He grew up." He heard his regular favorite person say from the hallway. She was carrying pizza and a bag filled with magazines. "I don't think I've seen you sense Bradford's funeral."

"If it isn't my replacement. I see the plastic surgery fairy paid you a visit. Apparently you're still Daniels assistant."

"Not really." Betty said as she walked over and gave Daniel an earth shattering kiss right after she placed everything on his desk. He was pretty sure Becks was not breathing at the moment.

"Actually I am the assistant and Betty is his soul mate," Candy said bringing in drinks and his two managing editors with her. "Daniel's life partner here is the new EIC of _London Hub_ magazine. She's the reason why he's here in London. She's also the brilliant one who suggested a research party to look over the competition. She just snagged back issues for the last two years."

"I have to look through them anyway to get an idea of what other magazines in my company are doing. At least this way I get to spend time with my favorite person, if that is okay?"

"Diana, Becks has some concerns with the new direction of the photo shoot

Wednesday. Do you mind going over the new story boards you are working on with him; unless you have something else you'd rather do?"

"I'll do anything that means I'm still employed. I was so looking forward to meeting the reason why you were the only man in this entire office not looking at my chest area today."

"Are you sure you want to spend your evening doing this? "

"I told you I had to do this anyway. I am just enjoying doing it with my favorite person." She said as she kissed him again.

"They are absolutely adorable," Diana said as she pulled a completely shocked Becks into the hallway.

"That is because they're finally out of denial mode," Candy said as she grabbed a slice of pizza. He really didn't pay attention after that because Betty was currently sitting on his lap making snide comments about the magazine of her new parent company. Despite everything, he made the right decision coming to London.


	4. Jump

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

**

* * *

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Chapter 2: Jump

May 24 2010 6:34 AM Eastern Standard Time

Marc had no idea why he was not only up this early but completely ready. There would be a 9:00 AM press conference this morning where Monique will announce that she now controlled 50% of Meade publishing. An hour before the conference there was going to be a meeting of all the editors and creative directors at Meade. Due to the current lack of a creative director at _Mode_, he and Megan would be sharing the responsibilities of that job until a replacement was found. This meant he had to be at work in entire hour earlier than normal to attend the meeting.

If his date with Troy did not go so badly last night he would be more upset about getting up this early. He was starting to find out rather quickly that they didn't have that much in common. As he started to actually talk to Troy, he realized that there wasn't much for them to talk about. Troy came from an accepting family and Marc hasn't spoken to his mother since he told her the truth three years ago.

Marc discreetly downloads the latest Backstreet Boys album to his iPod and Troy kept talking about the virtues of the Jonas brothers and Justin Bieber. Marc still preferred Justin Timberlake. At least he could fantasize about him without feeling dirty.

After a very uncomfortable dinner, Marc came to the conclusion that didn't really have anything to talk about besides work with Troy. Not that work was a subject that Marc talk about right now. Pretty much everything that Marc is currently working on was top secret. He and Monique along with Megan, who was rescued from _Player_ Siberia, have been working on new material for the magazine for most of last week.

He could not tell Troy that he was the new managing editor for the creative side of the magazine because that announcement wouldn't occur until today. He could not tell Troy about the new direction that the magazine would be going in soon. He could not talk about how he was unsure if that new direction was a good idea or not. He cannot even talk about the real reason why Wilhelmina decided to leave.

He could not talk to Troy about anything in his personal life either. He couldn't talk to him about his decision to stay at _Mode_. He could not talk to Troy about the fact that even though he was staying here, he will still be at Wilhelmina's jailhouse nuptials.

He most definitely cannot talk to Troy about Amanda. He could not tell him about how he was secretly upset that Matt was taking his place in her life now that he was back. There's no way he can tell Troy about how angry he was about Amanda keeping her relationship with Matt a secret from him until the first breakup. He found out about their relationship at the same time he found out she was most likely carrying Matt's child.

He cannot talk to Troy about being worried that Amanda will leave him behind now that she was becoming a mother and starting her own business. It is not as if they can go back to clubbing now that she is carrying the next heir to the Hartley fortune. He doubted she would leave the baby with Matt just so they could go to jockstrap night at Boy Town after junior makes his grand debut in October.

Before when Amanda was with someone, it did not seem to matter. It was always just about sex. She went to that person for sexual gratification and she came to him for emotional support. For the first time she got both from Matt. He must admit that he is a bit jealous of that because he has sexual gratification with Troy but he knows he doesn't have emotional support. He is starting to wonder if maybe emotional support was better than sexual gratification.

He could never talk about any of these things with Troy. Their relationship just was not that close yet. He was wondering if he and Troy could ever get to that point. If he cannot talk about this stuff with Troy then where was the relationship going? Was there even a point?

He could have talked about this stuff with Cliff. He could always tell things to him that he usually only ever felt comfortable talking to Amanda about. He has been thinking a lot about his ex boyfriend recently. Even before his conversation with Monique at Holston's wake, Cliff has been on his mind.

He really did not appreciate the good thing he had with Cliff until he was surrounded by the Matt and Mandy show. He just assumed it was normal loneliness cause by the fact he was surrounded by couples that triggered his trip down memory lane. Even Justin had a boyfriend. Wilhelmina was back with Connor. Betty and Daniel finally made it out of denial land and were living happily ever after in London.

Candy sent him cell phone video of the happy couple making out in their living room. The happy scene made Marc want to vomit. Seriously, why does she get all the hot guys?

Even though he technically had a boyfriend, he still felt lonely. People in love who truly understood each other and trusted one another surrounded him. He had that once upon a time, but not with Troy. Yet, he was still going through the motions because it was better than being completely alone surrounded by people in love.

It probably did not help that he saw Cliff briefly at Monique's going away party as he was going to warn Wilhelmina that Daniel was looking for her. The Madonna song _Jump_ was playing in the background as he saw Cliff in the crowd. He didn't get to speak with him because Monique and Daniel dragged him into her office. Much to his surprise Monique and Matt's plan worked. Wilhelmina was leaving the Company. What was more surprising was Monique wanted him to stay with Mode. She offered him not only a full editor position but also a managing editor position that oversaw the creative aspects of the magazine. There hasn't been a managing editor for that part of the magazine since Sheila quit after Wilhelmina became part owner of the magazine because of her almost Meade baby.

He was almost going to follow Wilhelmina to Isabella Press. He was almost did what he always does. He did not want to leave Wilhelmina after her recent near death experience. He was well aware of the second part of Monique's plan. Just as he was about to say no he saw Cliff walk in front Monique's door talking to some stupid guy that was not worthy of him.

Seeing him reminded Marc of the last time they talked almost a year ago at that award banquet. He promised him that he wouldn't let his fears keep him from something good again. So far during the last almost 12 months the results have been mixed.

He took Daniel's job offer to be his assistant when Wilhelmina left the company temporarily. He went right back to doing her bidding shortly after her return, even though she made him a junior editor.

Nothing really changed with the new title; he was still picking up Wilhelmina's dry cleaning and buying her accessories for her latest evil scheme. He was acting as an enabler. He might as well pull the trigger himself that night, because his presence was allowing Wilhelmina to keep doing the same dangerous things.

His personal life wasn't much better. The whole thing with Troy has been a fiasco from the beginning. The thought of being in a real relationship scared him and now that he was trying for something real he wasn't sure if Troy was the right person.

Professionally, if he stayed with Wilhelmina nothing would change. He couldn't learn anything else from her. He couldn't stay. He had to take this job for him. He couldn't break his promise this time. He couldn't let his fear control him. As the song played in the background, he took the metaphorical jump and accepted the position. He wondered if his ex would be happy.

Maybe last night's date with Troy was a disaster because he couldn't stop thinking about his ex. The more he thought about Cliff, the more miserable he became on his date last night with Troy. By 10:00 last night, he made some excuse to leave early. He purposely when out with Troy on a Sunday so he would have a built in excuse to leave early.

He should have stayed out an hour more because he walked in on Amanda and Matt having straight sex on the couch. He is going to have to disinfect that before he sits on it again.

This morning he walks out into their living room to see Matt sitting at their kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and holding a ginger ale for Mandy. He can hear her doing her now daily morning prayers to the porcelain gods in the bathroom.

"Why exactly did you sublet Betty's apartment, if you're over here all the time?" In the past Amanda's boyfriends and he uses the term loosely, were usually out of the apartment before he would be up for the day. Matt was there all the time. However, Matt was not a boyfriend; Matt was the father of her child.

"I'm trying to be supportive of my girlfriend who's carrying my child." Matt said in irritation.

"He's going to be here a lot Marc. Besides we have an opening for a third, now that Betty is in London." He heard Amanda yell from the bathroom as she started to brush her teeth.

"I guess since you are the one responsible for her no longer being a size two, you should get to partake in the misery of Mandy being pregnant. At least I haven't had to go on a tampon run since January. I should thank you for that."

"I'm sure the tampon runs are better than 1:00 AM trips to get Phish Food ice cream and crunchy jalapeno potato chips." Marc giggled a little when he saw Amanda smack Matt upside the head as she grabbed the ginger ale from his hand.

"Sorry, it must be the baby hormones."

"You do realize you won't be able to use that excuse anymore eventually." Marc pointed out to his friend.

"I'm going to enjoyed every minute of it. How did your date go last night with Troy?" Amanda asked as she drunk her ginger ale and started to make her way to the refrigerator. Thanks to Amanda's pregnancy they actually kept food in the apartment now. Now that Monique was in charge, Mode employees were encouraged to eat three balanced meals a day.

"Badly. You do remember I walked in on the two of you on the couch before 11. I never complained about you having fun in the apartment before Amanda, but could you please do what you did last night in his apartment?"

"Sorry. It's the baby hormones. The book says increase sex drive is perfectly normal at this stage." Marc rolls his eyes when she said that. He knew that she was going to blame everything possible on baby hormones for the remainder of her pregnancy.

"So how did dinner go with momzilla?"

"At least she didn't try to eat her future grandchild," he was shocked to hear Matt say this. "She told me to give Amanda a check to go away. That is probably just as bad. We left before dessert, after I told her to go to hell."

"That was bad. Yet the experience was still better than when I came out to my mother."

"I have not even worked up the courage for the "guess what mom I am bi" conversation. I'm sure that conversation would go even worse." Marc managed to pick his jaw up from the floor before Amanda started asking for her craving of the day. Seriously, why did all his female friends get the cute guys?

"Do we have any more of the honey wheat bagels? I think we are out of salmon cream cheese to. The baby doesn't like the regular stuff." At that comment, he made a mental note to look at real-estate ads during lunch.

"We will pick something up on the way there." Matt said as he gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"What do you mean "we"?" Marc asked with a bit of irritation in his voice.

"I need to be there for the press conference and the _Mode_ meeting." Matt said as he went over to his apartment to finish getting ready.

"But this is going to be our time together. We always walk to work together except during that time where you stopped working there. " Marc said a few minutes later outside the apartment as they were waiting for Matt to join them.

"Technically I am just answering the phones as I function as one of Monique's wedding planners. I'll be back to stealing thing from the closet for my own clients as soon as the weddings over and Monique gets a new assistant."

"I don't think it counts as stealing anymore when your unborn child owns a portion of the parent company."

"You're probably right. Is Troy going to be your plus one? I'm working on the seating charts today and I need to know how far to keep you in Cliff away from each other."

He didn't have to answer that question because Amanda became too busy with making out with Matt the moment he walked out of his apartment. Watching them together made him feel more alone than before.

* * *

He was slightly happier going into the editors meeting because Monique showed him the cell phone video of Daniel firing someone in London. The audio quality wasn't that good, however, the angry and shocked expression the victim was wearing was fabulous. He was positive that was the moment Daniel told the idiot in question that he was the owner of the company. Daniel Meade finely got a backbone. He knew Wilhelmina would love to see this. Then he remembered that she wasn't at_ Mode_ anymore.

Some of the expressions on the editors' faces were just as priceless as Monique told them that she was now the bitch in charge. He knew that Monique has been looking forward to the editors meeting when she tells everyone that she is their new boss for weeks. She enjoyed the misery of certain people.

The best shocked expression came from that idiot who always made her get coffee and called him nasty names. He now had a wonderful shot of the man visibly showing shock.

He was almost positive Damien loss consciousness for a few moments. His shock did not last long, because within minutes he was making snide comments about Monique either her buying her way to the top or fucking her way there. Damien shut up quite quickly when she reminded him that his contract was up in three months. Wilhelmina would be so proud of her little ducklings going off into the world and slaughtering their own minions.

* * *

The press conference went as expected. The only shocking news to the outside world was Monique taking over the company in the United States with Claire and Daniel becoming the Vice President of European operations. His position at Mode UK was a closely guarded secret at the moment. No one saw this coming when Wilhelmina resigned a few days ago.

Monique left them with a promise of many new things to come in the next few months. He knew the truly shocking material was saved for the _Mode_ staff meeting at 11. Although she did mention the company's new diversity forward approach for all Meade publications.

Suzuki was kissing Monique's ass after the conference trying to get the real story. One glare from her and he was running the other way. Mandy told him all about what happened Friday during the one on one interview. This was all so when she told him that they could not have lunch together because she was meeting with Spencer later in the day.

* * *

"Marc I need to talk to you for a few minutes before the main meeting." Monique said to him.

"You have all the presentations right. I gave them to Amanda on a memory stick before the press conference. She did not flush the stick down the toilet again did she?"

"No, that's not it. You know I'm going to be very busy the next few weeks doing the interviews for the creative director position and trying to finalize my wedding."

"Please tell me you're not going to make me choose place settings. I had enough of that with Wilhelmina's wedding to Bradford. I'm just glad prison weddings don't require as much fanfare." There is also the fact that Wilhelmina's no longer on speaking terms with anybody in her family. They did not even bother to call when Wilhelmina was in a coma.

"That is what I am paying Amanda and the army of crazy wedding planners my mom forced me to higher for. I need you to take point on the Brianna West-Hartley shoot this week and the DC shoot the week before the wedding. I will be stopping by the shoot Thursday to see how things are going, but it is mostly going to be your vision. The DC shoot will also be your vision."

The Thursday shoot will be the center spread for the July issue. However, the DC shoot will be the cover for the August issue. He fell happy to be trusted with that much responsibility, until he remembered what would be involved with a West-Hartley photo shoot.

"I assume as usual, Brianna is going to be in the spread."

"Of course. Is that going to be a problem?" He was somewhat shocked his boss was concerned with his well being.

"If I say yes, you're going to give the shoot to the bitch that despises Amanda."

"She's the only one I trust besides you to get the shoot done right without pissing off the designer."

"Fine I will do it."

"That's good there's just one other little problem. She would only agree to display her latest collection in the pages of Mode if we used her favorite photographer?

"Cliff is doing the shoot Thursday?"

"As well as, the DC shoot."

"You're not playing matchmaker again are you?"

"Of course not. Don't you trust me?" She seemed too happy when she said that.

"Not really."

* * *

This Mode staff meeting will probably be remembered for years. One of the more memorable things was Nikolai making nasty comments about how Monique got this job. Monique starred him down with a look that would make Wilhelmina proud. It made Marc feel so much better.

Marc was sure he was just mad that he lost a small fortune in the "When will Betty and Daniel get together" pool. Was it Marc's fault that he used insider information to make a bet along with the other members of the Detty conspiracy group? They were the ones to finally get the two clueless people together they deserve the money. Besides Nikolai was an idiot for not seeing what was going on between Betty and Daniel from the beginning.

Nikolai was also starring daggers at him when it was announced that he would be taking over the editor's job that Nikolai wanted for the last year. Megan received the same angry response when it was announced that she was returning from her _Player _exile to be managing editor for feature.

The former leader of the Mode rumor mill was not as well liked as she thought she was. Most people were happy when Daniel transferred her to _Player_. People were laughing at Betty's going away party when she practically fainted when Matt and Mandy started making out on the dance floor.

Even if Monique didn't like someone personally she still respected a person's talent. This was one of the things that set her apart from Wilhelmina.

There was cheering when Monique announce that she was not hiring an assistant instead she was going to work with several high school and college interns. These students would be entitled to a very sizable scholarship.

The high school students would receive free scholarships to one of the most prestigious private schools in the city. Nepotism was encouraged and first choice would be given to friends and family of Mode employees. He already knew that Daniel persuaded Monique to choose Justin as one of her interns this summer and for the next school year.

"Now that the business parts of this meeting are out of the Way let's get to the important stuff. I have been in charge for exactly one week and so far things have gone exactly the way they have for the last four years. We have been putting finishing touches on the 100th anniversary issue and it was just best to not rock the boat. However, things are going to change around here and I'm not just talking about the fact that you're now allowed to actually eat during your lunch break." That led to cheering from certain people and laughing from others.

"Now that the last issue of the old regime is on its way to the printers, it is time for a new vision." Monique paused as Amanda started the computer presentation. On the screens behind her flash the traditional image of the Mode girl.

"For the last 100 years we have been selling people the ideal Mode girl. For as long as I or anyone else can remember she has been this half way anorexic girl who only cares about wearing the latest styles and going to the best parties. Is that image really in line with contemporary values? The concept of the Mode girl was not always like this. The Mode girl, just like the fashion industry itself has changed over time." Behind Monique, images of the ideal Mode girl through the last 100 years were displayed on the screen.

"Now that the magazine world is on the cusp of a revolution, it's time for the Mode girl to change. It's time for her to come in line with modern ideas of femininity." Behind her the images of the mock covers that he and Monique have been working on appeared on the screen.

These images would have been displayed, if Amanda didn't run out of the room to go throw up again. Matt, who was sitting on the meeting at Monique's request, followed behind her. Megan was giving her the death glare as she ran out of the conference room. Marc is halfway convinced that Monique decided to bring Megan back to Mode because being around a pregnant Amanda would be punishment enough.

"Megan unless you want to go check up on her, can you please take over the presentation? I'm sure the baby's daddy can handle everything." Everybody started laughing at Megan's expense.

"First of all the Mode girl of 2010 is not a girl anymore. She is a woman. She is a woman that comes in all different sizes and skin tones. She is a woman who did not necessarily grow up with western values but she still wants to be beautiful on her terms. She does not want to be just the best dressed at a party or at a club. She just wants to be the best. Her outward appearance is just a reflection of her inner beauty. She cares as much about the Black Power suit as the little black dress. This doesn't just mean healthy models, this means diverse models of all types. We are going to reinvent the fashion magazine. We are going to redefine what is beautiful. We are _Mode_ magazine. We don't follow trends, we make them."

He was expecting shock faces instead he heard loud applause. He also heard Nikolai paraphrase a line from Star Wars. "This is how a fashion magazine dies, to thunderous applause. This is what happens when you put a nerd in charge of a fashion magazine." In response, Monique just laughed at Nikolai Horta.

* * *

A/N: I have a few questions relating two upcoming chapters that I need the answers for. Does anybody remember the acronym for the magazine awards show from season three? I remember the pronunciation, but not how to spell it. Does anybody remember the name of DJ's biological mother? Did they give Austin a last name? Does anybody remember the name of Wilhelmina's father? All help will be appreciated.


	5. Semiawkward Situations

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I am recovering from a very nasty case of bronchitis that made it impossible for me to do any dictation last week. I apologize for the long wait between chapters.

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Chapter Three: Semi-awkward Situations

May 25, 2010 6:35 AM.

Matt was woken up from his uneasy sleep by the sound of his cell phone ringing. After yesterday's not so subtle suggestions from Marc, he and Amanda chose to spend the night at his apartment. It would be so much easier if Amanda would officially move in with him. She said she didn't want to add moving to everything else going on. However, he knew the real reason was she didn't trust him.

It was obvious that she didn't trust him when Amanda threw an orange at Megan before the press conference yesterday because she talked to him. Then she proceeded to blame the entire thing on baby hormones.

It was better that they were alone in his apartment anyway. Amanda spent an additional hour crying last night in the apartment after her meeting with her biological dad at lunch. This is in addition to what happened before he convinced her to leave the closet. She then blamed this whole episode on the baby hormones. Matt is almost positive mommy dearest had something to do with Mr. Cannon's last minute decision not to go public with the fact that he is Amanda's biological father. She was devastated. This just gave Amanda another reason not to trust anyone.

"Hello?" he said sleepily into the phone as he pushed away his other thoughts.

"Did I wake you up? You're usually up by this time?" Even half asleep he can still recognize his ex girlfriend's voice.

"It's hard to be cheery when your girlfriend made you make an emergency run for ginger ale and saltines at 2:00 AM. Why do they call it morning sickness when it can happen at any time?" Matt said slowly getting out of the bed and walking two the living room area so he wouldn't wake up his girlfriend. He didn't get Amanda to go to sleep until after three. He already sent Monique a text message that Amanda was taking the morning off due to baby complications.

"My sister asked the same question after she threw up on my shoes when she was **pregnant with Justin." **

He could sense a little bit of this comfort in her voice. He knew there would be awkwardness in this situation. Their breakup was complicated. They shouldn't have tried to be together a second time. She was in love with Daniel and he was falling for Amanda. He can admit it to himself now that they were using each other because they were too afraid to go after what they really wanted.

"Amanda already threw up on my mother shoes before she even knew that Amanda was my girlfriend. Maybe that's why she hates Amanda so much. Not that I'm not enjoying a conversation with you where we don't start yelling at each other, but why did you call?"

"I just called to see if Justin and Hilda left anything in the apartment. Half my clothes didn't make it here." He laughed at that. He seriously doubted that was why she called him before 7:00 AM his time.

"Is that really why you called?

"I'm missing my favorite sweat pants."

"Call your nephew. I overheard him telling Marc that he was getting rid of some of your less fashionable pieces forever. I'll talk to you later." He waited 30 seconds before he ended the call to see if Betty would tell him the real reason why she called.

"Okay that's not why I called. I sent Amanda a text message last night and she didn't respond. I got worried. Amanda always responds to text messages even if she's in the middle of a "date". I got worried that maybe something was wrong with the baby. My mind went with a worst case scenario in light of what happened with my sister a couple months ago." He sighed in relief during this crazy rant. Amanda purposefully told Betty last because she was very worried the situation would ruin their friendship. It was good to know that didn't happen.

"The baby's fine. There were other problems that kept her from responding. "He chose not to elaborate.

"How did things go with your mom Sunday night? That's what I asked Amanda about in my message."

"Badly. You already know that she fainted when Amanda accidentally told her that she was pregnant. It just got worse from there."

"I think she was going to figure it out anyway. Amanda was already starting to show when I left a couple weeks ago."

"I get the brains from my dad's side of the family. My mom is not one for observations. After an extremely uncomfortable dinner where she ridiculed every single decision I ever made and completely ignored Amanda she pulls me back to the lobby and tells me to write Amanda a check. She also said I need to find a more respectable career path then volunteer work."

"It was that bad?" Betty said with a hint of sympathy in her voice.

"We all can have Claire Meade for a future mother in law. I know that my mom was the one who convinced Amanda's father Spencer not to go public. Amanda spent 2 hours crying in the closet before I could even get her to come here. "

"I'm sorry."

"It is better than what my dad did. My mom does her own dirty work; my dad gets other people to do his."

**

* * *

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18 hours earlier

After leaving his very emotional girlfriend at the Mode offices in the care of her father, he left for the Hartley Center located in Harlem. The building was in a residential area that recently went through regentrification. In a former life, the Hartley Center was an apartment complex. Inside was now a mixture of classrooms and office space with an emergency shelter on the first floor.

He had a 1:30 appointment with Raquel Ramos, the director of the center. She appeared to be only a little bit older than him. She was sitting in her office wearing jeans and a T shirt with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She seemed a little shocked to see him walk into the offices wearing jeans from Target. Just because he was wealthy, had a designer aunt, and a girlfriend who was trying to be a celebrity stylus did not mean his wardrobe came from the pages of _Hudson_.

"Thank god you actually know what you're doing. If you showed up here wearing $400 shoes and with a camera crew following behind you I was going to send you home immediately."

"I'm sure Carmen told you I worked with her team in Gaborone for almost four months. I enjoyed my work there and that's why I volunteered to work here until I start school again in January. I did write a series of articles for _Player_ magazine about my experience. Does that mean I'm a celebrity cashing in on a good deed? "

"Not really. According to Carmen the first article in that series has already resulted in 100 people volunteering for the program. Not to mention all the people that have written checks. If you enjoyed your time so much in Gaborone, why are you here?"

"Family emergency." That was true enough. Tyler was still a family emergency. Somehow Aunt Briana convinced Tyler to stay with her for a few months when he gets out soon. The Tyler thing is to remain a closely guarded Hartley family secret.

"That's what Carmen said. I don't buy that excuse. Why are you back?"

"My girlfriend is pregnant. I didn't know about it until I came back for a real family emergency. She wasn't planning on telling me until after I got back so I would finish my time there without worrying about her." That was true enough. He left out the part about him breaking up with her because he thought she was still sleeping with her ex who happened to be his ex girlfriend's true love.

"I assume this wasn't a planned pregnancy?" That was the understatement of the century. This child was not planned but definitely wanted.

"Were you aware that birth control pills become less effective if you forget to take them for three days?" He had no idea why he was telling her this, but there was something about her that put him at ease.

"50 years later and people are still getting caught by that. The fact that you're not running away from that responsibility tells me you'll fit in here. I'm really tired of having volunteers that leave because things are not as easy as they thought they would be. At least I now know why I received a very interesting call from the head of the charity this morning."

"Does is involved my mother or my father?" He said with a sigh.

"I assume your Father because cameras will eventually be involved. For an extra $200,000 for our 2010 operating budget, all I have to do is assign you to the new mom and dad program. At least I now know your family is not trying to cover up something really bad with money, like pedophilia. How oldis this girlfriend?"

"28,"

"There is no scandal in that."

"They don't see it that way."

"How much do you know about what we do here at the Hartley Center?" Raquel said as she gestured for him to follow her to one of the classrooms.

"I know the center has several after school programs that provide everything from academic tutoring to a hot meal."

"That's right. Our main goal is to provide students from age 3 to 18 what they need to excel academically. Some people need academic help, which is why we have everything from tutoring to a state of the art computer lab. Some people need us safe and quiet place to study which is why we have several study rooms and a library. With the economy as bad as it is some people just need not to go to bed hungry which is why we serve dinner to a lot of the students who are here. We even provide a place to stay sometimes. However that's not all we do. From the article in player, I gathered you worked with the AIDS education program. Did you actually do that or was that just an exaggeration for your article?" It was obvious that Raquel did her homework on him.

"Yes I worked with the AIDS education and prevention program in Gaborone. I did explain to teenagers how to properly use condoms to prevent disease and pregnancy. You're not going to make a snide comment about me not listening to my own advice are you?"

"Did you listen to your own advice?"

"Almost every time," he said sheepishly. Actually during the sex marathon that resulted in Amanda's pregnancy they used a condom every time but the last time.

"Almost doesn't count."

"Thanks to almost, I do not feel comfortable telling 16 year olds the importance of using a condom every single time when I didn't do that. Unlike everyone else in my family I don't like being a hypocrite."

"You would not be a hypocrite; you would be leading by example. I told you the money was contingent on you working with the new mommies and daddies program. That much money can do a lot of good for the various programs here." Raquel said as they walked into a room where several very young girls were trying to diaper dolls. He could tell almost every girl in that room was pregnant. Some of these girls looked younger than the sister of Monique's fiancée.

"There is a very big difference between accidentally getting your girlfriend pregnant at 28 while using precautions, then it happening at half that age. Some of the girls in this room are not even 14 yet." Raquel said to him in a near whisper as they stood observing the room full of students.

"This program is designed to help young girls and sometimes their partners prepare for having a child. We cover everything from the importance of prenatal care to what will happen in delivery. We also provide a crash course in parenting. "

"So what would I be doing?"

"You'll be teaching the class." Matt felt his mouth drop open in shock.

"You want me to teach a class on parenting? I know nothing whatsoever about being a parent. I just started reading _Oh Fuck; I Am a Parent Now_ two days ago. I didn't even have good examples. I was raised by the nanny."

"Then you better learn quickly. Your girlfriend, from what I gathered, is around five months pregnant."

"This isn't some evil scheme for my parents to get me to leave Amanda and our child? It wouldn't surprise me. Their bad example is why I shouldn't be around children."

"If you were that type of person I wouldn't let you near these girls. I did my research. Do you really think I'm the type of person to read Player magazine? I must admit I was kind of shocked by the type of articles in there. I thought it was Hustler without the porn."

"The now former editor was going for Playboy without the porn from the era when they used to publish interviews with Malcolm X."

**

* * *

**

"You can stop laughing now Betty." She heard Matt say over the phone. She was alone in her office talking to her ex boyfriend on the phone as he explained his new career. It wasn't as awkward as she thought it would be. She was supposed to be meeting with her new boss right now but he was running incredibly late according to his assistant and she will most likely have to reschedule.

She couldn't call Daniel because he was in a lunch meeting with the head of Advertising for DLS lingerie UK. After Daniel said her his fifth text message of the meeting, Betty essentially told him to stop text messaging her until the meeting was over.

With nothing else to do besides go over her notes for the next meeting she decided to see if Amanda was okay and find out what happened to most of her things.

Because she left for London two weeks earlier than originally planned, Justin and Hilda promised to pack up the rest of the things in her apartment and send them to London. Everything arrived to the town house yesterday while they were at work. Sometime during the middle of the day Candy popped over to let the delivery people bring everything in. It was obvious that things were missing when only one box arrived.

She knew she should have done all the packing herself. At least she was smart enough to pack Daniel's things at her apartment herself. She did not want to explain to her nephew, sister, or ex why her best friend not only had his own dresser drawer in her apartment, but he also kept condoms in it.

She didn't know if it was wishful thinking on Daniel's part or the fact that he knew she wasn't on the pill and was planning for the inevitable. She was just glad Matt has not asked any questions about Daniel yet.

"Sorry I wasn't laughing at you. I think what you're doing is a good thing and you will be a good dad. I also think you're good for Amanda. Are you sure it your dad is responsible for this? Your mom can be manipulative too. She was the one who use the planetarium to get me to talk you into staying in the yeit program."

"That's possible but she was too busy working on Amanda's biological dad to do anything with the charity. They've known each other for years. I'm sure my dad will probably just use the donation to get more publicity."

"Either way the money will really help the program. My sister was in a program like that when she was pregnant with Justin. She hated it because the teacher made her feel less than human because the condom broke. You'll probably make a better instructor because you've been in their shoes from the guy side of things at least. Maybe you should talk to my sister. I'm sure she can fill you in on the female perspective. They haven't moved yet because they're waiting until the school year ends."

"Amanda is making me go with her to the dish tasting Thursday night at your dad's house. Gio hated almost every single recipe that Monique's mom approved for the menu. He and your dad are now experimenting with other options; I've been drafted to be the main taster."

"That should be fun." She said almost sarcastically as she heard what sounded like a camera being used.

"Hey I got to go. I hear Amanda making her way to the bathroom for her daily prayers." With that Matt ended the call. She looked up to see Daniel walking through the doorway carrying two salads. She could see his cell still in his hands. He must've just taken a picture of her.

"Aren't you supposed to be at a business meeting?" she asked as Daniel placed everything on her desk and went over to give her a very gentle kiss on the lips. He tasted like his favorite carmel moca cappuccino.

"The representative from DLS's daughter is highly allergic to strawberries. One of her "friends" gave her a strawberry roll up and told her it was cherry. Mrs. Windfall left just after I gave my presentation. Although to apologize for cutting our meeting short, she did buy a year's worth of advertising. I thought I would spend the rest of my lunch with you, if that's okay?"

"That's perfect. I was kind of board and was about to start going over my notes for the EIC meeting tomorrow morning."

"I seriously doubt you had nothing to do."

"Mr. Dunne was unavailable for the meeting to approve the final layout and we can't finalize the content for the first issue until that happens. I did call Matt to see what happened to my stuff and to see if Amanda was okay. Things were a disaster with Matt's mom."

"I assumed that would have happened. Let me guess, Justin is the reason why you lost your little mermaid pajamas." He said with a laugh.

"I have not had little mermaid pajamas since I was 13. Justin was responsible although I'm sure he had help from his mom. There's no way I'm going to be able to get back at him all the way from London."

"Did I mention a certain nephew of yours is coming in August for a one month internship at _Mode_ UK?"

"My overprotective sister is letting Justin come here for a month? She barely lets him go into the city alone. This is just an excuse to get my family here. I love it." She said smiling as she hugged him.

"I knew you would. Your sister will be flying here with him, but he's going to stay with us. For the rest of the summer in all of next school year he'll be working with Monique." Daniel said as she started feeding her.

She thought it was kind of cute. She wasn't sure she ever had a boyfriend that she was like this with before. It was pretty normal for her and Daniel to share food. It was also normal for Daniel to feed her. What was different was kisses were now involved. She is just starting to see how much they acted like they were together before that was a reality.

She loved the way he tasted as she felt his mouth consume her. She loved that thing that he did with his tongue. It was as if he was exploring every crevice of her mouth with that organ. At some point they stopped eating but she wasn't sure because Daniels hand started massaging her upper thigh underneath her skirt.

"We really shouldn't be doing this." She said as she felt Daniel put her on top of her desk as his mouth never broke contact. Of course, the words came out as a disjointed moan as his overheated mouth made its way to her neck.

"You don't have any appointments for a while and I did remember to close the blinds. I promise we won't go too far." She didn't respond as he marked her with his teeth. She was mentally preparing how to cover these particular bite marks for the rest of the day. She heard the remnants of her lunch fall down to the floor as Daniel started kissing and sucking on her collarbone. She almost thought she heard a noise when he began to unbuttoned her suit jacket.

"Am I interrupting something?" When she heard the noise she completely froze and pushed Daniel off of her. He fell right on his backside. That somebody was her brand new boss standing in the doorway. Instead of feeling like that confident businesswoman she was, she felt like that 19 year old girl who got caught making out with her boyfriend on the porch. Yet her boyfriend was laughing.

Instead of being mortified like her, he brushed himself off and introduced himself as confidently as possible. Daniel was sleeping alone tonight for not locking the door and for forcing her to listen to a lecture on proper office behavior from her new boss. They were definitely getting the purple cappuccino machine, even if it didn't match the rest of the kitchen.


	6. Rumors, Assumptions, and Apologies: I

Thank you to everybody who read or review the last chapter. I apologize for the long time between updates. I had a massive amount of unexpected overtime last week and didn't have anywhere near as much time as I normally do to write. This week was just as bad. When you're stuck in an office all day, you don't want to write about office life even if it is in another country.

In addition, this chapter blew out of control. So much so, that I divided it into two parts so I could actually post something today. If I'm a good girl, I might get the other half posted tomorrow or the next day. Even so, this chapter is 5000 words.

Unlike the last story, I am not going to have a very set schedule for when chapters are going to come out. I'm going to try to update weekly, but that may not always work out. I suggest adding this story to alert because it is going to be sporadic. Update should become more frequent once we get out of the setup phase of this story around chapter six.

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Chapter 4: Rumors, Assumptions, and Apologies: Part I

Candy showed up to the Meade-Suarez house at 6:30 AM with more coffee and briefing materials for today's meetings. The great cappuccino machine debate was still going on and Daniel sent her a text message at 5:00 AM begging her to bring coffee. Because she only lived a couple of blocks away at the town house that really did belong to Monique's very rich aunt it was easier to meet Daniel here.

She was accompanying Daniel to a 7:30 AM breakfast meeting with London Beauty Cosmetics that promised to be a disaster. It would take a miracle to make a sell. The American firms that have European entities were still buying ad space, but their European counterparts were not. They were finding out quickly that a lot of the companies pulling advertising were just using the scandal as an excuse to save face.

As soon as Betty let her into the house she knew something was wrong. Monday they were all over each other in a sickeningly sweet teenager in love way. Now Betty was polite but distant from Daniel. She didn't even bother kissing him goodbye. They were acting like the last time they were not on speaking terms except there was no screaming. Even though she was at another magazine at the time, everybody knew when Betty and Daniel were fighting. It became the hottest gossip around complete with cell phone video.

"What did you do wrong?" She asked the moment they were alone in the town car.

"I didn't do anything wrong. Nothing's wrong." Daniel said in a way that told her something was wrong. He was too defensive.

"Then why was your girlfriend giving you the glare of death?"

"It's nothing. I surprised her with lunch yesterday after my lunch meeting ended abruptly."

"That should have got you bonus points, not the cold shoulder."

"I may have convinced her to make out with me on top of her desk at some point. Her boss may have walked in on us as I was starting to remove articles of clothing. Her boss may have given her a 20 minute lecture on appropriate behavior for an EIC that I listen to from down the hall. She may have slept in the guest room last night ." Daniel said that last part with a sigh.

"That's why you were late yesterday for your two o'clock. I had to cover for you. You are so screwed. I suggest getting her a really good apology present. Preferably something expensive and shiny."

"It will be fine. It wasn't that big of a deal."

"She slept in a different room. She gave you the glare of death this morning. Most importantly there was no kissing. You are screwed. She just started that job less than two weeks ago and now everybody is going to think she is the office slut. If you overheard the conversation with her boss, the entire office heard it. Gossip is an international pastime and people are going to want to know as much as possible about the new woman in charge. We both know what those rumors would be about."

"People have been saying those types of things about me for a long time. Actually, people have been saying those sorts of things about me and Betty for a very long time. There just rumors. They don't mean anything."

"Rumors can do a lot more damage than you think. How long did it take for people in the publishing world to see you as more than a screw up? It was not until after Molly died that anybody saw you as more than the guy who fucked all the models and only got his job because his daddy gave it to him. Some still do not take you seriously. You are actually a smart guy, but people only believed what they want to. Megan wasn't the only one who thought Betty got her job on her knees. A lot of people at Mode and some of the other magazines at Meade didn't take her seriously because of all those rumors about the two of you."

"Those rumors made it to other magazines?" He asked in shock.

"There were blogs. You should know this. I will send you the URLs. All it took was a picture of Amanda on top of your desk to convince Matt that she was cheating on him with you. Your shady reputation precedes you. In this instance it's going to do a lot of damage to Betty's career because people don't know her yet." She can see recognition instantly in his face.

"Where's the nearest Tiffany's? No, that's not going to work. She is able to recognize my usual "I'm sorry I'm a fuck up" present. Is it too soon for an engagement ring?"

"Probably"

* * *

The first thing Betty was aware of when she entered the office building was everybody stop talking the moment she walked in. She wished she already hired her assistant because that way she would have someone to tell her why she was getting nasty looks.

It was worse on her floor. Richard Williams her features editor made some snide comment about her special lunch meeting yesterday. Her creative editor Dominique kept asking her how a woman like her ended up with a notorious playboy.

The editors meeting was even more awkward. The meeting probably would have been uncomfortable anyway because she was the new person in charge of a brand new magazine. It was worse because she knew everybody was talking about her before she even walked into the room and they weren't talking about her work ethic. It was like high school all over again, except with Blackberry gossiping. She could always could tell when people were laughing about her behind her back.

No one appeared to listening to her during her presentation, but things were going better than yesterday's private meeting. Half of the items that she wanted to include in the first issue were cut. After being yelled at in a very British way for the thing with Daniel, she was also told that she wouldn't be writing any articles accept forthe letter from the editor. He told her that her job was to manage the magazine not create new content. She found this more disappointing than anything else. That was the real reason she was upset. She was just taking it out on the wrong person.

The only person who paid attention to her was the creative director from London Style, Natalia Winters. She gave Betty some really good ideas about how to make the first issue better.

"Thanks for actually participating. Are the meetings always was tense here?" Betty asked her when she saw her in the restroom afterwards.

"Only when they have an excuse to be extra British. In this case they had a brand new person to trash." That statement seems strange from someone who had a very British accent.

"I assume I'm the person they are trashing."

"In normal circles if they weren't being so vicious it would be normal curiosity. You're new. Everyone wants to know why he hired you to be the EIC of the new magazine at 26."

"I'm sure the conversation is of a vicious nature because they all stopped talking when I walk in."

"Of course, it is vicious. Everybody knows that your current boyfriend was your old boss. I'm surprised your relationship has not made it into the tabloids yet. Even here Daniel Meade is a minor celebrity. Everybody is gonna wanna know why he move to another country so suddenly."

"You mean other than trying to keep the European part of his company open during the current financial crisis."

"People are always looking for something juicier. Everybody who knows your biography, knows you went from assistant to EIC in four years. You managed to beat my old friend Monique's record by an entire year and she had several more years of experience. There's all sorts of blogs about your relationship with him. It's only natural people will assume…"

"That I got my job on my back. I heard it before, although Marc was the only one saying it." Marc never said it in a malicious way. It was more of a joke.

"I seriously doubt that. This time around there saying that Lindsey was the one who got you on your back." Her mouth dropped open an absolute surprise. She was even too shocked to defend herself. "After today's well thought out presentation, I know that's not true. Your work speaks for itself. You did a good job today even if everybody else was too busy gossiping about you on their blackberries. I had the exact same problem you did in the beginning. A lot of people had misconceptions about me as well. You remind me a lot of myself. 10 years ago I moved to New York to be a managing editor at _Isabella_. It's hard being the new girl in town when everybody is talking about you behind your back."

"That's where you know Monique from."

"She's a good friend. We work together for years. I'm even invited to the wedding in a couple of weeks. She is were I got all the good Intel from. She asked me to make sure her friend's girlfriend doesn't get eaten alive by the vultures at Lindsey Publishing. We need to schedule a lunch some time so I can give you the latest intel. In the meantime let me give you some advice. First, if you're going to shag your boyfriend in the middle of the day in your office locked the door and make sure Dominique's assistant is not around. She is your office gossip mill. You are in a committed relationship. You can do whatever you want. Don't let them make you feel dirty for what you do."

"We were not even having sex. We were just kissing."

"Yes unfortunately according to the rumor mill are mutual boss walked in on you performing oral sex." Why was she not surprised?

"This goes into the second thing, don't listen to what other people say about you. They are just jealous. They will probably say the same nasty things about me or anyone else who is a threat. Be the editor you want to be and tell everyone else to fuck off. Go out there with your head up. Let them say what they want."

"My sister said the same stuff to me in high school."

"Isn't it a shame that nothing has really change, except we now sit at the popular table."

* * *

The meeting went worse than they assumed it would. Not only did they not buy any advertisement in Mode they also pulled out of several other Meade magazines. Unfortunately, her boss was to lovesick to care. She was currently listening to him grovel to his girlfriend via voice mail.

"Look I know you're in a meeting right now, but I thought I would leave this on your voice mail so you won't yell at me. I finally figured out why you were so upset. I'm not as stupid as everyone says I am. I'm sorry I forgot to lock the door and they are probably saying nasty things about you behind your back. You know it's not true. You deserve everything you get. Anyway, I love you and I'm sorry." Daniel ended the call as the town car pulled up to the Meade building.

"Wonderful voicemail. You already sound like a guy who has been married to her for years. You two have been together for less than a week and she already has you by the balls."

"You do remember you work for me? We seriously need to have a talk about professional behavior."

"You can blame my behavior on me being at Player for almost two years. We had our own definition of professional decorum. You are not going to fire me until you at least get a cappuccino machine in your house. Its true and you know it. You have a 9:00 meeting with Sumreen to go over features articles for July and August. After that, you have more job interviews for the creative director position.

"Do any of these people actually have talent?" He asked with a sigh as they got out of the car and walked into the building.

"Not really."

"Why am I not surprised."

"After that you need to stop by the fashion shoot to make sure Diana has not killed the photographer yet. Actually forget Diana, I'm going to kill him. When you were being all happy couple with Betty in your office Monday night, he propositioned me four times after you sent me over to play buffer because you didn't want to. I thought I was done with coworkers pinching my ass when I left Player." She said getting on the elevator.

"I will talk to him. He is not that bad. He's just stuck in college mode. He's a really good photographer."

"I'm not saying he's not talented. I've seen his work. I know he used to be your friend, but he's a dick. The only good thing about this whole thing is watching him get shot down by Diana." She said getting off the elevator.

"You're a professional. You can do this. You know the deal with Monique and me. If you do well you will be a junior editor by this time next year. You need to get used to dealing with the talent."

"I didn't get hit on this much by the photographers at_ Player_." She said under her breath as she placed her bag on her desk.

"Isn't that because Monique worked with Cliff or Margaret Say most of the time?"

"I hate it when you're right. How did your other assistants deal with this problem?"

"I'm not sure. It didn't happen that often. I will ask Betty as soon as she speaking to me again."

* * *

Less than four hours later Candy was ready to kill the photographer. She didn't know what was worse him hitting on all the models or him hitting on Diana. At least he left her alone for most of the morning as she dealt with everything arriving late. They were doing the fall business wear collection for the August issue and she was sure the photographer was a little upset because the women were fully dressed.

During the lunch break, she decided to confront their photographer before one of the models punched him. It would be difficult to get another photographer in the middle of the shoot if Becks ended up in the emergency room.

"Can you please stop hitting on Diana and the other models? Just because you're hot, doesn't mean everybody wants you. Since we're using real women instead of little girls who almost look like boys, most of them can see through your shallow exterior." She said as she grabbed a water from the catering table.

"Did you just say I was hot?" He said with a cocky smile that would work on most women but not her.

"That's the only thing you got out of what I just said? Why am I not surprise? You are so full of yourself. You're not getting anywhere with this act except not getting hired back for another shoot. You do not have a chance with Diana and everyone else here is too intelligent to fall for your pickup line of the day. My suggestion is to act professional, if you know how to do such a thing, and do your job. You can concentrate on getting laid after work like everyone else."

"I'm a multitasker. It's only a matter of time before Diana gives in. I saw the way she was looking at me Monday. I doubt that she is married or with anyone. The only photographs on her desk were of her and her sister." She wondered if she should take pity on the idiot and let him know that the woman Diana was kissing the cheek of was not her sister. She's only been there a couple of days and she already knew Becks was missing the most important thing Diana valued in a partner.

"Like that matters to you. I really don't know for sure. I only met her a couple of days ago. I came out with Daniel from New York."

"Unlike everyone else here you were around when Daniel started dating Betty. You were probably already his assistant. How did that happen? Every time I try to talk to him, he comes up with some excuse to leave the room. I know there were close before I started doing more overseas jobs, but she's not his type." That statement pissed her off.

"You mean because she's not a sigh zero or because she actually thinks for herself? She's not supermodel beautiful, but she is beautiful."

"I'm a photographer. I can see beauty even under some of those god awful outfit she used to where. Daniel never had the same skill."

"You'll be amazed what can happen in two years. If you always knew she was beautiful, then why did you make your plastic surgery joke Monday?"

"It's our thing. It's hard to be pleasant to someone who essentially stole your best friend. From the moment they first met there was this connection between the two of them. The closer Betty and Daniel got, the less time he had to spend with me. He does not want to go to a club because Betty wouldn't like it. Besides he promised he would take Betty to see some romantic comedy because Henry is in Tucson with that girlfriend he knocked up. We don't do our normal bet at fashion week because he says it's demeaning to women. Of course during the middle of the show he gets this certain look on his face as Betty walks down the runway. It is as if he just realize she was the most beautiful woman there. It was already starting." He said with a shocked expression on his face as if he just realized what was really happening back then.

"I didn't start working for Daniel until a couple weeks ago and I still saw this coming. The whole building did. I was working at another magazine where my boss was the mastermind behind this thing at the time. You saw the beginning of this years ago. Why are you surprised?"

"I don't know maybe because I was expecting to find that person I left behind two years ago. I didn't expect to find Mr. Diversity who now sees women as people and not fuck toys."

"It sounds like he was already starting to change. What exactly happened between you two? In the car this morning on the way to the meeting from hell he told me all sorts of stories about your college escapades."

"Betty. He just didn't have time for me anymore. I started taking jobs overseas and he stoped returning my emails. Two years later, I come back and find out their living together. I did not see that coming. Daniel Meade does not do commitment."

"From your earlier statement I can tell you were not invited to the wedding."

"Betty and Daniel are married?"

"Not yet." Although Candy wouldn't be surprised if the engagement rings section of the Tiffany website was already bookmarked on her bosses computer.

"I'm talking about Daniel and his first wife Molly. How could you not know about that? Everybody knew about that. He put their wedding picture on the cover of Mode last year. The story got even bigger after she died. magazines featuring stories about the international playboy who marries the dying plain Jane schoolteacher sold well. How can you not know about this? Were you living in a cave ?"

"Possibly. I was doing a photo essay for National Explorer in Afghanistan."

"Is this another pickup line? I thought you were a fashion photographer, not a real photographer? Then again, my friend Cliff did the occasional serious job. He won a MAMA last year."

"I'm full of surprises. I missed a lot. How about we go to dinner tonight and you can tell me everything." She was positive this was another pickup line.

"Not a chance in hell." Candy said as she ran over to Daniel and Diane talking in the corner.

* * *

During his second interview of the morning Daniel began to truly Miss Wilhelmina. She would have had this person crying within minutes. By the third interview, Daniel was developing a slight headache and was thankful that they decided these things would only be 20 minutes. That movie executive that Hartley hired was more qualified to be a creative Director then this person. At least she knew how to pretend to know what she was doing.

By the fourth interview, he let Sumreen take over as he secretly sent apology text messages to his girlfriend. He was sure that the candidate saw him playing with his phone during the middle of the interview. He really didn't care. There was no way he was hiring someone who thought Jimmy Choo was a brand of candy. Even Betty knew labels when her personal style was at its most unique.

During the fifth and final interview of the morning he text message Betty's sister to find out the best apology flowers to get her. He knew her favorites were daisies and orchids. Henry got her daisies all the time, so there was no way he would send that. He would pick up some orchids for the house, but that wouldn't work right now. Besides that's what he got her in February for his "I'm sorry I was in asshole" present during the fashion week thing.

"Did you really have to play with your phone during the interviews?" She asked him with angry eyes.

"It was either that or fall asleep. Not a single person was remotely qualified for this position. I think most of the interns I met yesterday know more about the fashion industry. One would think there would be more people applying for this job if the economy is so bad right now.

"No one wants to work for a company that will be out of business in six months. It probably didn't help that the guy in charge was sexting his girlfriend during the interview."

"I was not sending dirty text messages to my girlfriend." She gave him a look similar to the look his mom gave him when she knew he was lying to her.

"They were apology messages." he then preceded to tell her the whole story. She was still laughing.

"First, if you plan on doing anything like that here please lock the door. My 14 year old daughter is one of the interns that will be assigned to work with you in a few weeks and I don't want her to walk in on anything inappropriate." Daniel was shocked by that statement. Sumreen barely looked 30. He should know better. Hilda was not even 33 yet and Justin was 15 going on 16.

"You have a daughter? You don't seem old enough to have a 14 year old daughter."

"My husband says the same thing, but when you've been married for 15 years you stop believing what your husband says. I was 20 when I had her." Daniel had no idea she was married. At Mode New York, almost everybody that work there was single. The hours were not exactly conducive to family life. Wilhelmina was one of the few people who had children. That didn't go so well. During the date from hell a few years back, Wilhelmina told him that the only reason why she sent her daughter to boarding school was she didn't want her to be home alone after the divorce when Faye made her work 23 hour days. Maybe he really did need to get to know the people that were working with him now.

"Since you've been married successfully for so long, do you have any ideas for a good "I'm sorry I was an idiot" gift?

"At this point in my marriage, the best apology present is for the house to be completely clean, my favorite dinner on the table, and our daughter staying at a friend's house."

"I don't think that is going to work." Daniel said as he started walking to the photo shoot.

"Probably not." That was the last thing he heard.

* * *

10 minutes later he found Diana in the studio going over wardrobe choices for the second half of the shoot. She was currently making an intern cry."

"Was that really necessary?"

"Not really but I have to take my frustrations out on someone. I can't kill whoever was responsible for half the wardrobe showing up 3 hours late. I can't kill the photographer because we are in the middle the shoot and he used to be your friend. Although now you seem to be avoiding him. I can understand. I can't deal with someone who spends half the shoot trying to sleep with me or the models."

"I am not avoiding him." He said defensively. I am just busy. I did talk to him before the shoot. I thought that would keep this from happening." So maybe he essentially said stay away from his assistant. So maybe he left as quickly as he could to avoid certain questions. He was sure Becks got the idea.

"For 30 seconds. You only mentioned Candy by name. He probably thinks the rest of us are fair game. I don't have a problem with him hitting on me. My girlfriend might, but I personally don't care. It's just annoying."

"You have a girlfriend." Daniel asked in shock. He really didn't know anything about the people he was working with.

"Are you that surprise I have a girlfriend? Just because I like women, doesn't mean I don't enjoy wearing the latest designs. Who I sleep with has nothing to do with my sense of style or my ability to do my job."

"Not really. I stop judging people by stereotypes the moment I met this beautiful yet badly dressed woman who completely changed my life. I am thinking of doing some sort of dinner party to get to know everybody as soon as my girlfriend is speaking to me again. If we are going to keep this magazine from going under maybe we should actually know something about each other."

"That would probably be a good idea. I still want to know the story of how you two got together. As for an apology present, I would go with chocolates. That usually works when I do something stupid. My girlfriend has a sweet tooth. Although it needs to be good chocolate, not that nasty stuff that you Americans call chocolate. I had an American Hershey bar once. It was dreadful."

"I will remember that."

"In the meantime you can stop avoiding your friend over there and talk to him about his behavior." At that moment Candy came running over.

"Sorry, you're going to have to do that. I just came to get my assistant back. I need her to go over strategies for the Birmingham meeting." It was obviously an excuse.

"That's tomorrow and you're mispronouncing it. This is why we need to go over the briefing material now." Candy said pulling him out of the studio before Diana could say anything.

"You owe me. This is why you keep me around." His assistants said to him leaving him in the hallway. She seemed almost as happy as he was to be out of there.

TBC


	7. Rumors, Assumptions, and Apologies: II

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

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* * *

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Chapter 5: Rumors, Assumptions, and Apologies: Part II

Amanda sat in her office in New York with wedding plans and design sketches everywhere. With just over two weeks until the wedding happened they were in the last stages of wedding preparations. The outfits were chosen, the venue was booked and Monique's dress would be arriving tomorrow for the fitting.

Today the only wedding thing she had to do was make sure everybody showed up for his or her fitting. Helping plan the wedding kept her distracted from her daddy problems in between frequent trips to the bathroom. She was too babies sick to function as a celebrity stylus right now. Was it really her fault that she threw up on Monique's mom's shoes yesterday? She didn't think she threw up this much when she was bulimic.

The first unfortunate phone call was to Monique's sister, who had her assistant answer instead. The next person she called was one of Monique's friends from college. She knew that she used to work with Molly, but she couldn't remember her name right now. She was really angry when she found out Daniel was bringing his new girlfriend to the wedding. Suzuki St. Pierre's hot story this morning was Daniel Meade leaving Mode for London to follow his former assistant and new girlfriend "Betsy" Suarez.

The third and fourth people she had to call were Gio's two cousins who were both ushers. Both guys hit on her several times during the call. Fortunately the baby made her throw up again, giving her a wonderful excuse to get off the phone.

Finally, she got to call the one person she actually wanted to talk to. She needed a juicy update on the Betty and Daniel situation anyway and Daniel was a much bigger gossip.

"Have you slept with Betty yet?" She said into the phone without even saying hello as soon as Daniel picked up.

"Amanda, I'm not used to this time conversion thing yet but shouldn't you be working?"

"I am working. I'm calling everybody to remind then when they have to be there for the final fitting for the wedding. Because you are all the way in London, Briana is sending her partner from the French part of the company to do your fitting at the Mode offices Friday at three your time. Monique also set up a meeting at the same time for you to talk with the head of advertising for the European division of the company. Monique already emailed Candy, but got her out of office message saying she would be at the photo shoot all day."

"I'm a little surprised that Monique is setting up advertising meetings for us. I am not used to having a partner that actually helps me succeed instead of sabotaging my efforts."

"She tries her best not to be Wilhelmina. She also wants you to call her at five your time to talk magazine and wedding party stuff."

"How did she talked me into being in the wedding party? I'm still your escort right?"

"No you're going to be escorting Gio's little sister. The one who is really mean and snotty. Monique's mom threw a fit about keeping everything even. Maybe she did that because I threw up on her yesterday during the planning meeting. You are also going to be standing on Monique's side now. I think she asked you just to make sure that you would be back to give her the ultimate wedding present of you and Betty making out at the ceremony."

"That may not be happening. It depends on if Betty is speaking to me again by the time the wedding happens.

"You did not screw up again ? Did your relationship make the papers in the UK as well?"

"I did not screw up. What papers?"

"Why isn't she talking to you?" She asked deliberately ignoring the paper question.

"We may have got caught by her boss making out on her desk. I forgot to lock the door."

"How did that happen? You always remember to lock the door. You were always really good at stopping when you heard people coming. You're great at sneaking around."

"I kind of forget basic things when I'm around her."

"You're in love. I like you in love."

"I've been in love before."

"Not like this. You know that if Molly wasn't dying you would've never married her. Even Monique refers to it as a "make a wish wedding" and she was Molly's best friend." He did not respond to what she said. "What you did wasn't that bad. At lease you didn't break up with her when she was pregnant with your child because you thought she was sleeping with someone else even though she wasn't." So she was still a little upset about what Matt did, even though they were back together.

"What have you been making Matt do to make up for that?"

"Do you really think I absolutely need crunchy dill potato chips at 3:00 AM with a specific brand of dip? I'm planning on making him as miserable as possible for the remainder of this pregnancy."

"You made me do the same thing."

"You are the reason why he broke up with me. I also still was not positive about the baby's paternity at the time. Speaking of making you and Matt miserable, your mom wanted me to tell you that on Saturday before the wedding you, Matt, and Tyler are joining her for brunch at the hotel where the wedding is taking place."

"How is my brother doing?" He said with a sigh. She should be happy he said "my brother".

"Good. He is geting out of rehab permanently right before the wedding. You would know this stuff if you called him. You're as bad as Matt. Sometimes I think you two are the ones related by blood. You act too much alike."

"Can I bring Betty?"

"If she's talking to you.I'm coming with suggestion for an "I'm sorry I'm an idiot" present is a really good box of expensive and is good but don't get her what you used to get your if it is really pretty and goes with 't even think about getting her business cards did that too many times. You couldn't even remember when she already had cards.

"It was a practical present." He said defensively.

"It's not a romantic never said anything because she was too just buried them in the same door where she kept her snacks.I found two boxes buried in this desk once I started cleaning said I was nesting."

"What about flowers?"

"Again don't get her the same thing you got all the girls you slept with but couldn't remember their names. That is just going to make things worse. Although they were really nice flowers, but they really didn't make up for being in love with someone who couldn't even remember your name." She started crying at that point and abruptly ended the call. She blamed the baby hormones.

* * *

Betty was going over the resumes for the various people she just interviewed for her assistant position. She was a little upset that Lindsey had his personal assistant sit on the interviews, but she didn't have a choice. It didn't help that the woman let her know that her relationship with Daniel did in fact make the tabloids.

Of the five people she interviewed, the only person she liked was Betsy Williams. She just happened to be the former assistant to Daniel's predecessor at _Mode UK_. Betty was just about to check with Sumreen about Betsy's qualifications when her phone rang.

"Hello"

"So I talk to your boyfriend and he's really sorry about not locking the door." She heard a very familiar voice say quickly without introduction.

"Amanda is that you?"

"Who else would be calling you? It's not like you had any other friends besides Daniel and me. Now you just have me because you're dating Daniel." Did Amanda have to remind her. Before she could complain to Daniel when her boyfriends were acting like complete idiots. Now she did not have that. Christina was not as good.

"Christina."

"She doesn't count. She's all the way in Scotland." Betty just rolled her eyes."

"She lives closer to me now than you do. She's coming over to visit soon."

"That's good. Maybe she can talk you into wearing the dress that I chose for you for the wedding. If you're talking to Daniel again by that point. He is really worried and asking everybody ideas for apology presents. I suggested good chocolate or really good jewelry." She knew that Daniel was worried. True to form, she already had 15 voice mails from him on her cell phone alone. She should probably call him but she was still upset.

"I'm not surprised. I'm fine with any apology present as long as it's not business cards again." She said with a sigh.

"You're using your "everything's OK when it's not" voice. Why are you still upset? What he did wasn't that big of a deal." Not wanting to explain herself to Amanda she chose to redirect the conversation.

"Why did you pick out a dress for me? I'm not in the wedding party." She wanted to know about that anyway.

"Matt's aunt wanted to design a dress for the woman who can completely unnerve her former sister in law. They absolutely hate each other. She loves you for driving her crazy, even without meeting you. Because Cliff is doing all the wedding pictures, he wants you in all the shots with Daniel. Besides you two look really hot together. No wonder everybody thought you two were fucking even before you two got together." Great even Amanda thought she was a slut.

"I'm not hot. I'm not sexy. I'm not the type of girl who has sex with their boyfriend on top of their desk in their office. I'm definitely not the type of girl who gets their job by performing oral sex on their boss."

"You never heard about you going down on Daniel in the men's room at _Mode_ during the entire race of the phoenix thing?"

"It was Community of the Phoenix. Daniel told me about that. It was just a rumor." She said with a sigh.

"Those of us who know you know that it was just a rumor. We love you exactly the way you are. Your round and complicated."

"See you just made another crack about me not being beautiful."

"I said you were round, not unpretty. I'm just as round now. I have to send you the pictures of the baby belly. My belly button just popped. Matt said its adorable. I feel like an elephant in designer clothing. Thankfully they make designer clothing in maternity sizes. Evil Megan called me the good year blimp when I came into work yesterday."

"That's because Megan is a…"

"Complete bitch who wants to fuck Matt."

"I wasn't going to say that. I was going to say mean person."

"That's because you're still Betty underneath the brand new wardrobe. You're too nice, but I know you want to. Megan was the one who started the bathroom BJ rumor and the rumors about you only getting your job because you and Daniel were sleeping together. Jackie may have helped, but it was all Megan. She was just jealous. She was trying to break you and Matt up permanently. Now I am her new target."

"The rumors are starting here too, all because Daniel couldn't remember to lock the door."

"Vicious backbiting and nasty rumors have nothing to do with what happened yesterday. People will be talking behind your back no matter what, especially when you really are better than they are."

"I thought that was just Mode?"

"The rumor mill is everywhere and envy has existed for a very long time. They're talking about you because they hate you. They hate you because you're smart, successful, beautiful, an you have a really hot boyfriend who is so in love with you that he moved to a another country just to be with you. It's just jealousy."

"He came to fix _Mode UK_. I just happened to be here."

"Is that really what you believe? Daniel was planning on giving Wilhelmina complete control of Mode U.S. and come to London no matter what. When Wilhelmina took Monique's offer, Monique was the one who talked him into taking over Mode UK. He just wants to be with you. He has been in love with you for so long."

"He came here for me?"

"He's never loved anyone like he loves you. Not even Molly. Let me let you in on a little secret; the beautiful people hate you because you can just as easily be one of us. Under those layers of clothing that you used to use to cover yourself up there has always been this beautiful person underneath. I don't think you dressed like that because you didn't know better. It was obvious by your third month at _Mode_ you knew what looked good and what didn't. You were just afraid."

"I was not afraid." She argued.

"Yes you were. You look scared to death to get your braces off. Daniel had to hold your hand the entire time. Although maybe that is what you wanted. See your beautiful and good deep down inside. That's a really rare combination. Other people want to get rid of your goodness. Don't let them. But don't tell anyone I said that."

"When do you get this smart? I actually understood what you are saying. That's a rare thing for me."

"I think it's the baby and being forced to spend time around geniuses. Matt AND Monique have like a combined IQ of over 300. Call Daniel. He so desperate that he just text messaged Matt for ideas on a good apology present."

* * *

Daniel just walked out of his 4:00 PM meeting with features. Half of the writers were actually doing well, the other half were clueless. He already knew he would have to fire more people and the thought alone was making his headache worst. He checked his personal phone one more time before calling Monique. He had a text message from Candy that said this shoot was going better now that Becks stop hitting on all the models. Becks sent a message about being sorry for what he said to Betty Monday and asked if Daniel and Betty wanted to go out to dinner next week. Daniel really didn't want to answer that text message. He still had nothing from Betty. He put up his cell phone and called Monique on the other phone.

"So I see my assistant did something today besides throwing up." Monique said to him.

"Amanda is really good at her job."

"I know she is. She is just having a really rough pregnancy. It's getting worse. I'm probably going to have to find another assistant by the time the wedding happens. If things keep getting worse, I'm positive her doctor is going to put her on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. If I'm lucky I may have my new intern broken in by then." He really didn't want to know what she had in store for Justin."

"If you're really lucky you might have your new creative director broken in by then."

"Not happening. The only person I have so far that is remotely qualified for that job is Marc. He doesn't have the formal experience, but he knows how to do the job. He has been watching Wilhelmina do it for the last six years. Unfortunately, if I promote him any higher than I already have I'm going to have a mutiny on my hands and there's going to be rumors going around about Marc getting this job on his back."

"That's not going to happen with you in charge. If I was still there maybe." He said with a laugh.

"Mark slept with his YETI instructor."

"What?" He could not have heard that right.

"Amanda told me. He was desperate to get an editor's job and he was willing to do anything, even have sex with a woman. I can understand being extremely desperate to get away from Wilhelmina. If I know about the rumor, everyone is going to know about it. I just can't deal with that stuff right now. People are vicious. Nikolai is already making things up. He's the one who told Suzuki about you moving to London for Betty. I got him to keep quiet about you being the new EIC of _Mode UK_ until the formal announcement in exchange for confirming the story and a invitation to my wedding.

"It's fine. I'm sure after yesterday's incident it was going to become public knowledge anyway that Betty and I are dating." He then preceded to tell Monique everything that happened.

"I don't think it's as bad as what Candy told you. I told you this industry is vicious. They will make stuff up anyway. You just have to prove that you're her boyfriend, not the boss who use to fuck her in the copy room. I'm suggesting more romantic lunches and maybe an office dinner party. It's the perfect solution."

"I'll talk to her tonight to see how bad things really are. As for your situation, just hire someone on a one year contract and then move Marc into the position next year."

"I don't think there's anybody I can hire on a one year contract. Maybe I should just not have a creative director position. I could just split up the duties. Is your search going any better?"

"At least you have Marc. The interviews are so bad today I started text messaging Betty."

"What about someone in house?"

"Unlike you, I need all the help I can get. Diana is a possibility. Unfortunately, things are too unstable to move her. Maybe in a year or two, but not right now. We lost another advertiser."

"Fuck."

"That's what I said in the car. They did not just leave Mode. They pulled out of all of our publications in Europe."

"I wasn't going to say anything, but I know someone who may be willing to take the job."

"I'm desperate."

"I can tell. Otherwise, I would not be telling you this. I have a friend who I worked with at Isabella who went to _London Style_ because of some family crisis. Your dad was trying to get her for _Mode UK,_ but was unsuccessful due to David . She's coming to the wedding in a couple weeks and when she called to RSVP she mentioned how much she wished she could come back to New York to work for me. The woman in charge at _London Style_ is a bitch. There's just no other word for this woman. She is just that horrible. She makes Wilhelmina seemed pleasant. Then there is the fact that Lindsey does not let his top people do any writing. She does not like that policy." He had a feeling that if Betty was under that policy, she wouldn't like it either.

"What does this mean for me?"

"Natalia absolutely hates her job, but she has to stay in London because of a really messy family situation that I can't get into. It's just too personal."

"My mom is a recovering alcoholic who killed my ex girlfriend's mom, my sister used to be my brother, I thought my nephew was my son, and I share a half brother with a guy who I may have accidentally stole my current girlfriend from. Oh I forgot, earlier this year me and that same guy were caught up in the middle of a "whose baby is it" drama involving the daughter of the woman my mother murdered. No one's family situation can be more complicated than mine."

"You have a point. Although, hers comes pretty close. What I'm saying is that we might be able to get her to come to _Mode UK_ with a good offer an a flexible schedule. There is just one complication." He knew there would be a but.

"Briana is willing to give Mode U.S. and Mode UK exclusive rights to her new wedding collection."

"How is this related?"

"She wants Betty in the shoot."

"Why? She's never met Betty."

Anybody who Victoria Hartley despises is a friend of Briana's. One of her dresses was specifically made for Betty. If we want the collection, we need your girlfriend to be in the photo shoot. To get Betty in the issue we have to get a release signed by Lindsey Publishing. If you poach the creative director from _London Style_ for your magazine, we're going to lose the exclusive. We need this exclusive." He realize they needed the exclusive without Monique saying anything.

"Too bad we didn't know before I signed Betty's release form. We could have used it as leverage."

"I did not know how unhappy she was until a few days ago."

"Talk to the lawyers to see how badly we need the release form. Maybe there is a loophole for the U.S. magazine. Apparently, there was no conflict of interest with Betty functioning as the New York correspondent for London Style when she was working at Mode U.S. When does your friend's contract end any way? Maybe we can wait it out if she's interested.

"Four months if they don't opt to renew. Considering how weak the creative director market is right now, I'm sure they're going to renew."

"I really Miss Wilhelmina. Evil schemes and contract loopholes were her specialty. I hate having ethics."

"Did you just say you missed Wilhelmina?" Daniel heard a voice say from the door.

"Hey I have to Go. Betty is here. I'll call you tonight to go over everything else."

"You didn't have to end your conference call."

"Yes I did. I been calling you all day."

"I'm sorry, I didn't return your calls. I had a bad day at work yesterday and today an eye was taking it out on you. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find the perfect assistant?"

"Not until I had the perfect assistant. Although in all honesty, all the good ones just fell in my lap. I'm sorry my horrible reputation is probably getting you a nice nasty reputation. How bad were the rumors?"

"Bad. Apparently everybody thinks I slept with my current boss to get my job because I was sleeping with my last boss." He winced when she said that.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. At least that rumor has not made the tabloids. Fortunately, for you I had a nice talk with Amanda. Apparently people only make up nasty rumors about people they are jealous of and feel threatened by." She said walking to the couch with him behind her.

"Usually," he said taking a seat next to her.

"I've never had people jealous of me before."

"Everybody was jealous of you." He said wrapping his arms around her and kissing her on the forehead. "I was jealous of you. Do you have any idea how great you are? There's this goodness in you that I will never achieve. You are so beautiful and sexy as hell."

"Apparently in the corporate world that's a bad thing."

"Just because I want to have sex with you in the copy room or on my desk does not mean I don't love you. It means I love you so much that I can't wait. " He said kissing her neck. "Except we will wait a few more weeks until you're used to me doing this." He said pulling back.

"I never had someone before who thought of me like that."

"I know Matt thought you were beautiful."

"I mean sexy. The most erotic thing I ever did was try to eat ice cream off of Henry's stomach. I told you how bad that went." He couldn't help but laugh at that. He remembered her telling him that embarrassing story to cheer him up after Molly died. He also remembered reading that she had a fantasy about trying to do that with him in her diary. He's used that passage for personal time recently.

"That's because you were doing it wrong. First of all you need to be the one covered in chocolate syrup." That got him a blush. "We're fixing that. We can do it tonight."

"Doesn't that involve actual sex, which you don't want to do yet? Have you done this before? Of course you have."

"Not necessarily. It depends on your definition of sex. I thought we're just going with no penetration." She started blushing again when he said that. "Also you are the only person I would ever try this with. At least with actual ice cream involved." He wondered if chocolate body paint counted?

"I find that hard to believe."

"Most of my previous girlfriends, if you can call them that, did not do food. The first time around, Amanda and I were not in a place where we trusted each other enough to do this. The second time around she was too busy listening to me be mad about Matt. Actually I was listening to her be mad about Matt."

"I will admit that entire thing was a mistake. This is why I'm not that upset about Matt starting to date Amanda right after we broke up. What about Molly though?"

"Molly was too sick to do anything like that. Technically our marriage was not even legal because we were never able to…" That's when Betty kissed him. A part of his mind thought she did it to keep him from talking about having or rather not having sex with his first wife. The rest of his brain was too occupied with being slammed down on his couch by his girlfriend to think. The next thing he was aware of other than Betty, was yelling from his managing features editor and praise from his college friend.

"I told you if you were going to have sex with your girlfriend in the office to lock the door. All I ask is for you to lock the door."

"Okay now I know why you're with her. The sex must be unbelievably hot. It's always the quiet ones."

"Okay now we are even as soon as you let me have the purple cappuccino machine." His smirking girlfriend said as she got up from him.

"You did that on purpose."

"Yes but I'm willing to try the ice cream thing now." His girlfriend whispered in his ear right before she left with Sumreen.

"That is why I love her." He said out loud to no one in particular.


	8. Oh MAMA

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. If you haven't figured it out yet, I am doing a real season five complete with complicated relationships and multiple plot lines. Due to recent announcements, a pregnant Amanda seems like something we could have saw in a fifth season, if we got one. Congratulations to Becki Newton and her husband on the upcoming birth of their new child.

After lots of buildup and character set up, we are starting to get into the juicy stuff. Also, keeping in the spirit of Ugly Betty there will still be a lot of celebrity name dropping. Don't take it any more seriously than you did on the actual show.

Note: In this chapter, there are references to Alexis before her gender reassignment surgery. I've decided to always use the female pronoun when referring to Alex/Alexis because she perceived herself as female even before undergoing the surgery.

**Chapter Six: Oh MAMA part I**

Matt was expecting to wake up to the presence of his girlfriend. Since he found out he was going to be a dad about a month ago half the time he woke up with his hand protectively around Amanda stomach. The other half of the time he woke up to Amanda's mouth wrapped around certain parts of his anatomy. This time he woke up alone.

He walked out of his bedroom to the bathroom still half asleep. That is when he overheard his girlfriend in the middle of a conversation with someone in the living room. It wasn't until he was washing his hands after he was done, that he realized his girlfriend was in the middle of a web chat with his ex girlfriend.

"So let me get this straight, Daniel stopped in the middle of ice cream sex in the living room to answer the door?" At least he knows that they kissed and made up yesterday. Even he was worried after yesterday's emergency text messages. At least he knew Daniel didn't see him as competition for Betty's heart.

He bowed out somewhat gracefully accomplishing his lifelong goal to be better than Henry. He let go of Betty before the whole situation was completely heartbreaking. At least he got somebody he actually loved pregnant unlike a certain account with bad hair.

He doesn't hate Daniel. It's kind of hard to hate a guy when you share a half brother. Although, he doesn't hate Daniel, he still does not want to hear about him having ice cream sex with his ex girlfriend. There are something you don't want to know. Even as he was getting his things he could still hear them talking.

"We were not having ice cream sex. He was eating ice cream off of my stomach in the kitchen not the living room. It just so happens that you can see the kitchen table from the living room and the fortier."

"First of all if you get off from an activity, it is sex. Why were you having ice cream sex in the kitchen?"

"We're not having—never mind Amanda." She sighed in annoyance before continuing. "I didn't want to get chocolate sauce on the sheets." He just rolled his eyes as he picked up the pre approved outfit chosen by his girlfriend.

On top there was a note that his aunt was coming over at 7:30 sharp to go to breakfast. He wondered if it would be rude to take a shower when Amanda was chatting with someone? He got his answer when Amanda looked back at him and gave him the angry eyes and signaled for him to come over and sit next to her. He essentially told her no and went back into the bedroom where he could still hear too much.

"Oh please. You had ice cream sex in the kitchen because Daniel had you on top of the table before your little chubby legs could carry you upstairs to your bedroom. What I really wanna know is why he stopped and actually open the door?"

"He wasn't. I made him after the knocking continued."

"If you made him why are you so upset."

"I'm not upset at him. I'm upset that I didn't know the kitchen table was visible from the front door. Daniel's 15 year old nephew saw me topless covered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream. I was too mortified to even ask him why he was there. I overheard him saying something about a school field trip to London. I could not even make eye contact with him at breakfast this morning." He realized he was completely over Betty when he broke out laughing.

"Amanda it's not that funny."

"I'm not laughing." Amanda said choking back an almost giggle. "That's my babies daddy laughing in the background."

"Matt it's not that funny." Betty yelled at him.

"Oh yes it is. You should've told me you were into that sort of thing." He said walking over to the computer. He could see the irritation on her face. " It's not a big deal. DJ probably would have saw your chest anyway when he eventually came across Daniel's collection of nude paintings of you." He didn't have time to register Betty shocked face as Amanda quickly ended the web chat. He did fill a hard push on his shoulder.

"Did you have to tell her that? She had no idea that Daniel bought all the nude paintings of her. I am not spending another day dealing with "how do I fix this" text messages from Daniel."

* * *

At exactly 7:30 AM his aunt's limo pulled up in front of the building in Chelsea. Inside was his aunt and his bouncy ball cousin Alexis that everybody calls Lexis. Ever since Lexis mysteriously arrived five years ago he's considered Lexis to be his niece rather than his cousin. Family relationships are always a little skew when your aunt is less than 10 years older than you are. Even as her favorite nephew he has no idea who Lexus's father is. It was another deep dark family secret.

"Is it just me or are you slumming?" His aunt said kissing him on the cheek as he got into the car.

"Amanda already lived here and there was an apartment available next door. Spend a couple of months in another country in the real world and you'll have a completely different definition of luxury." He said as he extended a hand to his girlfriend who was already having difficulties getting in. She was technically 18 ½ weeks pregnant but she was starting to look like she was at least 24.

"Hi, baby Lexis. What are you doing here?" Amanda said as she kissed his baby cousin on the cheek. Apparently they met before. Probably when she was at the studio working on the dresses for the wedding.

"Aunt Bictoria said I was going to be your little kid until Uncle Matt came back to his senses." Matt was unsure that the mispronunciation of his mom's name was intentional or an accident.

"What is she talking about? I thought she was your cousin?" Amanda said looking directly at him.

"She is. The uncle is only an honorific fortunately in this case. Your mom called me yesterday." His aunt said with a laugh.

"She actually called you? The last time she called you voluntarily dad was in intensive care after an accident. What did she say?"

"The last time she called me voluntarily was to schedule your career intervention two years ago because you actually listened to me. I just think it's funny that you have finally chosen a path for yourself and she wants you to change your mind."

"She thinks it's a mistake."

"Of course, she does because she's a stone cold…word I can't say in front of my daughter. Anyway, your mom asked me to talk some sense into you."

"What exactly did you say to that?"

"Most of it I can't repeat in front of Lexis. I think it's funny that she even called considering I support your decision fully. However, we did reach a compromise. You and Amanda will spend the whole entire day with Lexis so you can find out how difficult being a parent really is. It works out because my nanny has suddenly come down with a case of the "my boyfriend is in town" flu."

"I had that once. It's the best flu ever. I should get that next week sometime. I'm sure it would be better this time with a real boyfriend." He just smiled at her. Considering how much she's been throwing up lately she probably could get away with it.

"Due to the fact I'm supposed to council teenagers about being a parent starting in two weeks, I think I'll get enough practice. Dad set it up." He said that last part with a groan.

"That was not your dad, it was me. You forget my name is on the Hartley foundation as well. You can use the practice."

"I should've known. It seemed too much like caring."

"Your parents care about you. There just really bad at showing it. For example, I found out that your suspicions were correct. Your mom pressured Spencer into not making the announcement."

"Why?" Amanda asked with a touch of anger.

"The normal reasons: image, money, and power."

* * *

Marc sat in Wilhelmina's apartment munching on half a low fat no sugar added blueberry muffin as they watched the nominations for the 2010 MAMA awards. It was a tradition for the two to watch the nominations together in Wilhelmina's office or at her apartment. Of course this year it was different. First of all Wilhelmina was actually eating her half of the muffin. Almost dying after being shot means that your body needs nutrition to recover.

The second thing that was different was that he was skipping the morning managing editors meeting with Monique to be here with her blessing. Strangely enough she actually believes family is more important than work.

He has been coming over a lot in the last few weeks even though he no longer works for her to make sure she actually follows doctor's orders and is truly on the road to recovery. Dr. Whosits or whatever got very upset over Wilhelmina's sex marathon with her fiancé. He was there for the screaming session that followed. He never thought their would be a doctor brave enough to yell at Wilhelmina Slater, but he was wrong.

He was actually surprise that they were still friends. He was worried that Wilhelmina would be upset that he chose to stay at _Mode_. She wasn't. She actually let him order himself a really nice bottle of champagne on her credit card to celebrate his promotion.

The other thing that was different this year was Wilhelmina didn't have an office at the moment, even if her things haven't left the Mode building yet. It was like the ghost of Wilhelmina Slater still haunted the halls of _Mode_ even if she didn't. With Miss Everybody-Is-Beautiful-Osborn in charge Wilhelmina's _Mode _is becoming just a distant memory.

Finally, he was at Wilhelmina's so he could have a few more precious hours without having to see his ex boyfriend. He was already uncomfortable just going back and forth in e-mails with Cliff over the last few days for today's shoot. He was a complete coward who could not even pick up the phone to ask a simple question. E-mail was just impersonal enough that he can pretend he's not talking to his ex boyfriend.

"It's almost sad that this will be the last time we will be watching the nominations together." Marc said in an effort to distract himself from his earlier boyfriend - he means ex boyfriend thoughts.

"I don't know why. I planned to be nominated next year. _Isabella_ under my guidance will receive a nomination next year easily. I'm sure once Monique turns _Mode_ into the _New York Review_ with better fashion, _Mode_ will get nominated in one of the other categories. She did receive her second consecutive nomination for best men's magazine for the _21__st__ Century Masculinity issue_. Has my EEO friendly replacement found a creative director to fill my shoes yet?" Apparently, there still wasn't any love lost between Monique and Wilhelmina. Although there may have been a compliment in there somewhere.

"No one can replace you. It's completely impossible for somebody else to wear your Prada heels. Even if they were the same size, they just do not have your flair." He said in the voice he reserves for Willie flattering.

"You're not on my payroll anymore. You don't need to suck up to me."

"Willie I only say these things because their true. She is only nominated again because she put Adam Lambert on a cover surrounded by sexy fireman and some really famous basketball player that I can't remember the name of. Just the concept alone deserved the nomination. Although I wonder if a magazine with articles such as "The Secret Life of Players on the Down-low", "I'm not a bitch, I am just a player in a skirt", and "Players change the world: I found my soul in Gaborone" is still a men's magazine despite the high level of cleavage that fills the pages."

"Most of the old readers do not actually read the articles, they are just looking at the picture of the doctor wearing a skirt that shows her cheap hooker panties wearing 4 inch heels that belonged to women of that same profession. The 30% increase in readers over the last two years were from people who actually read the articles. I'm sure she's hoping the readers of Mode are just as clueless. It's going to be a lot easier to pick up on the fact that the models now have breasts and then the articles actually have substance. Your only hope is getting a creative director strong enough to challenge her, otherwise you'll never get to enjoy the perks of being a managing editor. Don't worry I will have a desk ready for you as soon as she runs the magazine into the ground." She said in her normal Wilhelmina way.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think we'll be OK despite the lack of a Creative Director. Yesterday's choices were horrible. Betty knew more about the fashion industry during her blue poncho days."

"She allowed you on the interview panel?" Wilhelmina asked just as Tyra Banks, the host for this year's event, took the screen.

"Since I worked with you she said I was the most qualified to find a decent Creative Director." He said quickly before the nominees were announced.

"For best fashion magazine 2010 your nominees are _Vogue_ magazine for the Young and Modern issue, _Isabella_ magazine for the Young Hollywood Style issue, _Mode _magazine for The Million Dollar Bra issue." He expected Wilhelmina to be happy that they were nominated, but she wasn't.

"I can't believe we received a nomination for an issue that I sabotaged. God really must love Daniel. There's no point in watching the rest of this. It has lost all credibility for me." Just as Wilhelmina went to cut off the television the host continued.

"For the first time in MAMA history, Mode magazine receives a second nomination for the 100 Years of Swimsuit Style issue." For the first time ever Wilhelmina Slater was completely speechless.

That speechlessness continued when Both _Mode_ magazine and Player magazine were nominated for a magazine of the year. It was the first time that either magazine was nominated for that particular honor.

Betty also received a nomination for best article for "Confessions of a Fashion Misfit" from the Million-dollar Bra issue.

Cliff was nominated for the Lambert cover. He really wasn't that surprise. His work has gotten even better since the breakup.

The true absolutely shocking moment of the morning was Matt Hartley receiving a nomination for writing for the articles he wrote for Player. Marc may or may not have crushed his muffin when that particular nomination was announced.

* * *

Breakfast was a quiet affair or at least it was until he started getting text messages congratulating him on being nominated for a MAMA. He was completely shocked he received a nomination for writing. Judging by the text messages the only people that were not in shock were Betty and Monique. After their earlier conversation he was shocked that Betty even contacted him.

Fortunately, they were leaving the restaurant at the time the messages started showing up. Of course, he didn't receive a single one from mommy and daddy dearest.  
Actually leaving the restaurant in general was a good thing because his almost five year old niece managed to get pieces of her breakfast everywhere. They left a $75.00 tip after Lexis manage to get blueberry pancakes syrup on the ceiling. He wondered if Lexis was doing it on purpose. He wouldn't put it pass his aunt to do something like this.

20 minutes later, they walked into Monique's Office where she was sitting down with Claire Meade discussing something about the company. The last few weeks Matt has been getting used to being around Claire Meade. Most people would hate the person who was responsible for their bad childhood, he didn't.

Besides he's pretty sure his parents would have found some other reason to hate each other like Tiffany Jagger. Matt's pretty sure she was the assistant who his dad knocked up during the early nineties because she practically disappeared in the middle of the night in 1994. One day she was trying to talk him into participating in the junior artist program at a university that he can not even remember the name of anymore and the next day Jack Rodriguez was his dad's new assistant.

He really couldn't hate her because Claire was more of a mother to Amanda than anyone else ever was. She was the one who was therefore Amanda when no one else was. She was even there when Amanda took the pregnancy test. For that reason alone he was okay with their child calling Claire Meade grandmother. Besides maybe if his father wasn't such a dick, this woman probably would have became his stepmother.

He was shocked to see his aunt hugging Claire Meade as if they were the oldest of friends.

"You know each other?" Matt asked quickly as he held his cousin who was trying to get out of his arms.

"We've known each other for a very long time. Your aunt and Alexis went to school together. They were the best of friends up until the accident."

"Alexis and I became best friends when we functioned as the cover for my big brother and his secret girlfriend. When your dad was sleeping with Claire behind your mom's back they covered things up by saying that they were taking the kids out for a play date. Your dad never liked spending time with me. I should have known something was up."

"I don't remember you ever mentioning having a friend name Alexis." He said changing the subject. Talking about the brother sister relationship between his aunt and father usually resulted in his aunt getting completely wasted. It was too early in the morning to deal with a drunk aunt. Besides he was curious. He was sure his aunt would have mention something like that when she decided to name her five year old daughter Alexis. She always said that she named her daughter after a dear friend who died.

"Yes I did. I told you that I named Lexis after my BFF Alex. Alex always said that if she ever went through with the gender reassignment surgery she would change her name to Alexis. After I thought she died, I thought it would be fitting to give my daughter the name she always wanted. It turns out she wasn't dead."

He instantly remembered several newspaper articles about Alex Meade returning from the dead as Alexis at fashion week 2007. He also remembered his aunt losing consciousness at her show that same year.

"Have you spoken to Alexis since she came back?" Claire asked.

"At first, when she came back I tried calling, but she never returned my calls and I stop trying."

"Maybe you should try again." Claire said looking strangely at the little girl he was holding. "She lives in France now with her son DJ."

"Alexis has a son?" His normally unflappable aunt asked in a state of shock.

"Yes but they originally thought he was Daniel's son, which is why he has the name DJ short for Daniel junior. Although, I think he likes Daniel better than Alexis. DJ showed up at Daniel and Betty's house last night when he was eating ice cream off of Betty stomach in the kitchen." He was just grateful at that moment that Amanda didn't refer to it as ice cream sex.

"Excuse me while I go call my daughter and son to see why my grandson is in London with his uncle. Matt we're having a press conference in 30 minutes regarding this morning's nominations. I expect you to be there." With that Claire Meade was gone.

"That's okay. We're just going to go to the closet to try on Amanda's dress. Do you want to stay here or do you want to come with us." She asked her daughter.

"Can I play dress up?"

"Sure, that's my favorite thing. We can play dress up together in the closet." Amanda said as she grabbed Lexis from him and kissed him goodbye.

"That works out well because I need to talk to you as your aunt is putting the finishing touches on the maternity bridesmaid gown." Monique said to him.

"About what?"

"Daniel and I had a very interesting conversation yesterday and Claire agreed with my decision. Because you have a share in this company I thought I would talk to you before I did anything permanent."

"I thought we agreed that I would be a silent partner and you would control everything."

"That doesn't mean I don't value your input. You're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for. Besides you are an award nominated writer now and I think maybe you should have a more formal position here with an actual office."

* * *

He walked into the offices at 9:45 AM, barely missing his ex boyfriend at the muffin cart getting his usual blueberry muffin and normal coffee. It means nothing at all that he ran into the elevator when he saw his ex. Maybe it had a little to do with the fact that Troy happened to be standing in line behind him. He doesn't have to be at the photo shoot for 45 minutes and he's not gonna deal with any boyfriend drama—he means ex boyfriend drama before then.

As he stepped off the elevator, he was expecting to see Monique holding court with the press. She was a master at the press conference. Instead Claire was the one leading the press conference with Matt answering questions about his articles from Player, his role with the company, and rumors about his relationship with the daughter of the late Faye Somers. Nothing like finding out someone you really don't like just received a promotion that they probably don't deserve via a press conference. At Mode, Matt will be the junior director for special projects and the coordinator for Meade's charity outreach programs. Marc wondered if it would be petty to throw his Starbucks at him.

If he did at least it would get Amanda to stop hanging all over him. If they want to keep the existence of their relationship and the fact that Matt is the father of her child from the tabloids they really need to stop making out in front of the press core. It was probably already too late by that point anyway but it was still sickening. Megan who was standing on the other side of Claire looked ready to kill. He personally hopes that the baby causes Amanda to throw up ending the kiss.

"The press conference was over as soon as Suzuki started asking questions about Betty and Daniel's relationship and the identity of the new EIC of Mode UK."

"You do realize that you and the billionaire boy are going to be on the cover of every tabloid from here to Jakarta after that." He asked after the press conference as they were walking to Monique's office after Amanda told him that she wanted to see him before he had to deal with his ex boyfriend, with his ex girlfriend that he was still best friends with.

"That was the whole point." Matt said as he started walking to Monique's office as one of the assistants pushed the press core to the elevators. "Aunt Brianna told me this morning that my mom was the one who pressured Spencer in to not making the announcement about being Amanda's dad. She didn't want anyone to find out about the baby. Spencer acquiesced because he was worried about what my mom would do to Amanda if he didn't go along with it. At least that is what he said when we called him. I decided it was time to let everyone know anyway."

"You miss the best part. Matt thanked me personally and told everyone the reason why he left early was because I was pregnant."

"Sorry I missed it." Marc said sarcastically.

"If it wasn't for the fact your mom is probably having a heart attack right now I would not have allowed you to turn the press conference into a personal spectacle." Claire said as she followed behind the three.

"You completely ruined my family. I think I deserve something." Matt said in a way that obviously wasn't serious.

"Considering your parents stayed married for several more years, I doubt that it was my fault. I believe it was Tiffany Jagger that ended that marriage. However considering what a horrible person your mother is, I'm positive she didn't need any help. Amanda when you get done with Monique, could you please try to call my son and get him to explain why my nephew who was supposed to be on a school trip to London showed up at his house last night? He is not taking my calls. If that does not work tried Betty."

"Will do." With that Claire was gone and they were walking into Monique's office she was standing in the middle of the room on a table wearing just a black bra and panties surrounded by wedding dresses. His boss seems oblivious to everything going on around her as she screamed in to her head set. Judging by the conversation it was mommy Monique on the phone.

Viviane Windom-West was a legend in the New York social scene. Marc met the woman for the first time a couple years ago at some charity dinner that he went with Wilhelmina to.

At the time, Marc didn't know she was Monique's mother. They had different last names and Monique looks more like she could be Wilhelmina's child then the daughter of Viviane Windom-West. It was obvious she didn't recognize him when they met in January at Matt's gallery show if she really believed he worked for _Player_.

"I had no ideal _Player_ or _Mode_ would be nominated this year. Most magazines don't get nominated two years in a row." Monique's scream this as he saw Brianna place a small girl in Matt's arms along with a designer purse. "Please take her somewhere else before Mo teaches my daughter new four letter words. Be good for Matt and auntie Mandy, baby ."

"Yes, I chose that wedding date specifically to ruin your perfect rehearsal dinner." That statement drew his attention back to Monique's conversation. "Do we even need to have a rehearsal dinner? This is my second wedding. I think I know what to do." Matt and Amanda were running out of the room with the small child at that point.

"Are you still mad about the fact you were not there for the first wedding. Get over it. You wouldn't have came anyway because he was just an assistant. I'm shocked you are going to this wedding, because I'm marrying the sandwich guy." That led to more arguing.

"Cliff is an award winning professional. He can get good shots with a disposable point and shoot camera with bad light and no planning. He doesn't need to practice to get good shots." At that moment Monique covers the microphone and asks him for her blackberry. At least this distracted him from thinking about Cliff.

"No I can't do the rehearsal dinner Thursday because I'm still going to be in DC. We're not going to get back till Friday morning." At that point Monique switches the phone to speaker mode. He quickly took over the conversation when Monique asked for his help. Of course she asked in French.

"Hello mommy Windom-West. This is Marc St. James one of your daughter's colleagues. We met in January at the Matt Hartley gallery show."

"So you're her new assistant. I bet you're happy to be out of _Player."_

"Amanda is her assistant. She is the one who threw up on your shoes Tuesday." That piece of gossip was already circulating through the _Mode_ offices. "I am one of her managing editors and the one in charge of the DC shoot."

"She is still your boss. If she said so you could be back Thursday in time for the reception."

"Yes she is in charge and she's a wonderful boss. However,there's no way we're going to be able to get back Thursday in time for a dinner. I think we're shooting at the State Department that day until nine. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get the Ben Franklin room for a photo shoot for a fashion magazine? The most practical solution would be to do the dinner sometime Friday afternoon. The awards banquet doesn't start until 8:00."

"Civilized people don't eat dinner at 4:00. However, a rehearsal luncheon would be great. Mo can invite all her little magazine friends and it could be a pre gala event as well." He just rolled his eyes at that.

"That's fine as long as I control the guest list." Monique shouted back.

"As long as you don't invite your father and his new slut, I don't care." At that moment he could tell the designer was happy that she got her daughter out of the room.

"See that's one thing that we agree on mom. If I could get away with it, I've wouldn't invite him to the wedding. I'm definitely not going with that arcane tradition of the father giving away the bride."

"He would have to have been your father in the first place instead of a sperm donor to have that right. I am happy that you were nominated even if we are going to have to completely change the rehearsal dinner. I have a facial at 10 that I need to get to."

"That's fine. I'm in the middle of trying on the wedding dress. I'm currently standing in front of my staff wearing my underwear. I will see you tonight at the Suarez house for the final menu tasting."

"I don't see why we have to go all the way to Queens for a menu tasting."

"Because the chef who I have taking over for the unimaginative catering company prefers to work in his own kitchen. I will not have bad food at my wedding. This is what happens when your future son in law is a food person." he heard Monique's say to her mother.

"Even if he works at a sandwich shop."

"It's a gourmet sandwich shop that he is the owner of and they're starting to open several other locations this summer. Just tell your snotty friends that my future husband owns his own business. That should shut them up."

"I suppose it would." With that mommy Monique was gone.

"You owe me for that." Marc said as he smiled at her.

"Trust me you will love the surprise I have for you later today. I even found you a special helper for the DC shoot." She said cryptically but Marc didn't get to ask questions.

"Now that you're done yelling at mommy dearest can you please put on your wedding dress. I seriously doubt Marc wants to see you in your underwear for the remainder of this meeting."

"I don't have a problem with it. I live with Amanda. I've gotten used to cleavage popping out all over the place a long time ago. I am a complete professional Miss Windom-West.

"You two already know each other?"

"I was there when she told Wilhelmina to go to hell during fashion week 2005."

"Actually I told Faye Somers to go to hell and told Wilhelmina to go fuck herself. It was the pregnancy hormones. We Also ran into each other at the MAMA awards last year. We have the same ex boyfriend. You already know that, otherwise you wouldn't have told me to be nice."

"You're not doing a very good job." Monique said as she started to put on the dress.

"Did you get a chance to go over the concept mockups I sent your assistant?" He asked trying to prevent a fight from breaking out.

"Everything looks good. I have a few changes we can talk about after I make sure the backup dress for the shoot fits. Seriously can you hold still?" She said as she started to do up the bodice. The dress was gray and strapless.

"I don't remember Vera Wang being this hands on." Mark mumbled to himself.

"She's also not that violent." Monique said.

"It's a Hartley thing. We're very hands on. In this case it's a personal favor to my friend and my nephew who now owns part of this company. Monique and I have known each other since my first wedding dress was featured on the cover of _Wedding Bell_ when she was not even illegally old enough to get married yet."

"Basically I'm giving her a chance to piss off her brother since she was never willing to come back to Meade Publications when he had a stake in the company. What do you think of the dress?"

"To say "I do" it looks fabulous. For the cover, you don't have the breast to pull that off." He said honestly, because he learned quickly that Monique doesn't require the same ass kissing as Wilhelmina. If it's not right she expects him to say something.

"That's what I thought but no one listens to the designer."

"Fine." Monique said pulling the dress off quickly and throwing it to the couch. Instead, she missed and it landed on the head of the person walking into her office. He should've known it was Cliff because his whole body started to tingle.

"Cliff if you get muffin on the prototype, I will hurt you." His heart instantly began to speed up as soon as she mentioned the name. He's a professional. He can work with his ex boyfriend. Besides he's completely over Cliff. He has Trevor now. Oh wait his name as Troy. Actually, Marc can't remember right now because he's too busy staring at his ex.

"That's your muffin, not mine." Cliff stopped and looked at him for a moment and didn't say a word. Mark really didn't know what to say. He was about to congratulate him on his nomination this morning, but Monique beat him to it. She also forced him into his fate of spending the entire day with his ex boyfriend by dismissing the two to go down to the shoot.

He was so distracted by Cliff that he accidentally ran into the doorway leaving Monique's Office. Oh yes, this is going to be one very awkward day.

* * *

Monique stood on the table again in her underwear watching the very awkward reactions.

"Those two are more fun than watching the secret mating rituals of interns. There obviously in love otherwise Marc would not have went headfirst into my door." She said as soon as the two were to the elevators and Brianna started to pull her down.

"I can't believe you successfully talked me into setting up my ex boyfriend with his ex boyfriend and your new managing editor. You know what Marc did to him?"

"I don't think they would be giving each other those glances if there wasn't something there. I also think Marc would have been coordinated enough to not hurt himself leaving my office. I also know what Cliff did to you. There's nothing more fun than finding out your boyfriend plays for the other team by walking in on him giving his male roommate a blowjob. Trust me you're much more forgiving than I ever would be. However, you forgave him and he forgave you. I'm sure there's a possibility that he will be able to forgive Marc and maybe get back together again."

"College is a time of experimentation. I accepted what happened and eventually we became friends again, but not lovers. I think the best we can hope for is the two of them getting through this issue and the DC shoot without killing each other or running into more furniture. "

"That's a first step. If you remember correctly you and Cliff didn't become friends again until after your other best friend died and you broke down in tears at a photo shoot at _Isabella_ that Cliff was working on."

"Alex didn't die, she just became Alexis completely."

"You didn't know that at the time. Alex did not even say goodbye to you."

"Yes she did. Exactly 40 weeks before Lexis was born." That last part was mumbled under her breath so much so that Monique barely heard her.

"What are you saying? Didn't she have a girlfriend back then?"

"I need to go find Matt and my daughter." Brianna said as an excuse as she started to run out the door. She did not even bother to grab the dresses.

"Brianna," Monique called after her as she put her suit back on. However, her friend was long gone.

**To be continued**


	9. Greenwich Mean Time

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter.

I decided to divide this chapter into London and NYC parts because it just got too long.

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Chapter Seven: Greenwich Mean Time

12:54 PM Greenwich mean time

Betty sat at her desk editing articles the old fashioned way with real pen and paper. She should probably be doing this in word to save a tree, but for her very first article she wanted to do it in hard copy so she can put it in her scrapbook. She was already well aware that she would be doing a lot of editing herself. Unlike _Mode_ with a staff of just under 200, _London Hub_ currently only had 14 staff members including herself. She was still hiring, but she probably will never have more than 25 people. Most of the work will be outsourced or done by freelancers. This meant that Betty was going to have to become familiar with every aspect of her magazine that she was allowed to touch. (Yesterday Lindsey decided to hire a photojournalist who used to work with National Explorer without consulting her that will start with her new assistant Betsy a week from Monday .)

As soon as Lindsey okay the content for the first issue she became inundated with work. She almost wish for two days earlier when she was semi board and could have lunch with her boyfriend. She was starting to review articles for the first issue as she continue working with her managing editor in creative director to come up with content for the August issue. All the work helped her forget about the fact that most of the people at Lindsey Publishing assumed she got her job on her back. She was still hearing rumors about that, but tried hard not to let it get to her anymore.

Just as it seemed that she really should have edited this article on the computer because it needed serious work she felt lips press against the back of her neck breaking her from her editing session. She was so shocked that she threw an arm back causing the intruder to go back and hit his head on her poncho in glass. He was currently sitting on the floor where he fell unceremoniously.

"Sorry. Are you okay? I wasn't expecting anybody to do that." She said helping Daniel get up as she kissed him on the temple where he hit her poncho.

"I hope not. Your neck is mine." Daniel said in a possessive way, but should she really expect anything less from a guy who burned her contract to keep her with him. She didn't have time yesterday to ask him about what Amanda told her due to the ice cream thing and DJ showing up. They would have to talk about that as soon as they could. Considering his behavior recently she was starting to wonder if Amanda was right about Daniel taking the job in England for her.

"Trust me no one else has kissing privileges. I thought you were supposed to be in meetings all day and couldn't get away for lunch?" She asked him, surprise that his presents. She was so busy any way she was planning on eating at her desk.

"That was before my nephew showed up mysteriously on our doorstep without an explanation other than he was on a school field trip. I decided that Diana could take a few of the meetings by herself so I could focus on DJ." He said pointing to his nephews speaking in French with the guy everybody thinks should have her job.

"Why is he still here? Not that I don't love your nephew, but isn't he supposed to be on a field trip?" Honestly she was a little nervous to deal with DJ after what happened yesterday. Also there was no way she was going to asked Daniel about the naked pictures that Matt painted of her with DJ their. Maybe she shouldn't be so upset because if Daniel had all the pictures that meant no one else did.

"He refuses to go back to the hotel or meet up with his tour group. Thank god Alexis put me on his pre approved "people who can take care of DJ" list otherwise things would really be bad right now. Since you have more experience dealing with allusive 15 year olds with mood swings, I thought you could get an explanation from him. I know my mom will start calling as soon as she knows DJs here. Knowing her she will find out anyway." She forgot that Justin and DJ were the same age because they seemed nothing alike.

"Amanda and Matt know that DJ is here." She said in a whisper.

"How did that happen?" Daniel asked with a shocked look.

"Video chat with Amanda." She said with a blush. "Don't look at me like that. Amanda is really good at getting me to confess things I don't want too. I didn't want to tell her about the ice cream thing, but she made me."

"I'm not gonna say anything. Although now my mom will find out because Amanda knows. You know she can not keep a secret. I really hope she doesn't tell my mom about the kitchen thing. Candy is a great assistant, but is just not as good as you were at putting off people I really don't want to talk to."

"I don't think I am the best at that. I could never come up with anything as good as sympathy morning sickness."

"When did you hear about that one?" Daniel said with a groan as he covered his faced with his palm.

"Your mother told me after I found out about the baby. I can't believe I thought that Amanda was developing bulimia again." She also couldn't believe she missed the fact that her then boyfriend was still infatuated with Amanda. She really can't believe that she missed all the signs that Amanda was pregnant or in love with Matt.

"People believe what they want to believe. Everybody thought you were ugly because you chose not to dress in the latest styles and had braces. Nothing could have been farther from the truth." Daniel said giving her a chaste kiss on her lips.

"Are you sure you really need me for this. Can't you find out what's going on from Alexis?" She said hesitantly looking at him.

"First of all how many 15 year old boys tell their mom what's going on in their life?" She instantly thought back to the fact that Marc knew about Justin's first boyfriend before they did. Then there's the fact that right now her father has no idea she's living with Daniel in the true sense of the word and not just being roommates.

"You're right, Justin doesn't tell my sister everything," or really anything half the time.

"Think of it this way your sister and Justin have a very good relationship and yet they still don't tell each other everything. With DJ and Alexis it's worse because she was completely absent from his life for the first 13 years and is technically his father." She forgot how messy that relationship must really be.

"Another good point, but you should still call her. At least let her know he's okay." She said as she pulled him in for her own kiss. At that moment she wondered if she closed the blinds.

"I already tried that. I couldn't get a hold of her. She's not picking up her cell and her assistant said she couldn't be reached for the next few days because she was at a corporate retreat." Daniel's voice sounded highly skeptical.

Daniel's relationship with Alexis is still highly complicated. The DJ situation and the fact that Alexis did not even bother to come in for Molly's funeral made the situation even more dysfunctional.

Betty only knew about Alexis becoming the president of a small company that Published books in France six months after leaving New York because Claire told her. Apparently, Alexis wanted to make a name for herself independent of her family and that's why she didn't work for any of the European versions of Meade publications. Of course, Daniel would not go over this with her because Alexis was a very painful subject for him.

"Okay another good point. What about the grandparents?" Betty said pulling Daniel to her as they sat on the edge of her desk together.

"Betty, most people don't have families as good as yours. DJs grandparents only wanted custody of him so they could have a piece of the trust fund that Lucy left him. They were already booking modeling jobs for him before Lucy's body was cold. They saw him as one big checkbook, like they used to see her. I never told you the real reason why they sued me for custody when we thought I was DJs dad because I legally couldn't, but I will tell you now. Apparently, they were looking forward to a very large child support check. When they tried the same stunt with Alexis, she sued for full custody and won." Betty stood there shocked for a moment, not believing anybody could be like that.

She knew DJ didn't want to go back with his grandparents. He was absolutely terrified at the thought of going back to France to be with his grandparents. He also knew that Claire pretty much despised DJs grandparents and tried to avoid them at all cost when she visits France. However, Daniel never told her it was this bad.

"Why didn't you tell me before besides the legal thing? If it was that bad, I wouldn't have convinced you to give DJ back to his grandparents."

"I didn't know until later and then I couldn't say anything about certain parts because of a gag order which I am technically violating right now."

"I won't say anything," she said kissing him again. This kiss was more intense then before. She is sure Daniel is the only boyfriend that she has had the she can simultaneously make out with and have a serious conversation with.

"The ability to stay in denial about certain aspects of your life is a genetic thing in my family that we are apparently very good at. We didn't know how bad it was until Alexis hired a private investigator after they hit her with a monster child support lawsuit. Did you ever wonder why it was so easy for Alexis to get full custody in another country, especially in light of the fact that she narrowly escaped prosecution for pushing Christina down the stairs?"

"I really never thought about it. I just thought that the judge felt it was best for DJ to be with his real parent. Maybe we should have known better. DJ was so desperate to stay." Now she felt horrible about that speech she gave Daniel two years ago. If she knew how bad it was she would have fought to keep DJ with them.

"Daniel you have to know if I knew I would have helped you hide DJ myself."

"I know. You can't change the past. I need your help now. He trusts you and respects you. He will tell you things that he won't tell me."

"I seriously doubt that after last night." She said remembering the shock look on his face. Just the thought of spending time with DJ right now made her squirm. Her boyfriend's 15 year old nephew saw her topless covered in ice cream toppings.

"He's a 15 year old boy. Most of the shocked was caused by getting to see a beautiful woman topless in the flesh." That got Daniel a smack on the shoulder as she started to blush again.

"See that that's exactly why I don't want to have lunch with your nephew. That had to be like walking in on your parents having sex. I've done that before and I was emotionally scarred for life. Not that we were having sex, even if Amanda argues otherwise. She keeps calling it "ice cream sex"." She sees a smile from him when she says this.

"That sounds like our Amanda. I had the misfortune of walking in on my parents as well. Actually I caught my mom with her new boyfriend. That is much more traumatic. Other relatives are nowhere near as bad. Besides we were not actually having sex despite what Amanda says." She swore she heard an "unfortunately" at the end of that sentence, but she was unsure because her phone started playing Justin's ring tone. She quickly grabbed the phone from her bag.

"Aren't you supposed to be in first period right now?" She said to her nephew as she did the time conversion thing in her head.

"My algebra teacher came down with the flu or more accurately the "my girlfriend is in town flu" and they don't have a substitute. It's going around campus right now. As long as I behave myself, I can watch the MAMA announcements on my phone. I just wanted to let you know that you were nominated."

"You mean Mode got nominated again?" She asked switching the phone to speaker so Daniel could hear.

"Yes but that's not what I'm talking about. Actually _Mode_ got nominated for the Shakira cover and The Million Dollar Bra issue." She couldn't believe it. That has never happened before.

"What? That has never happened before." Daniel said in shock practically stealing her thought. Just then, Daniel's phone dings to signal a text message. It was a congratulations message from his mom. Since she did not ask about DJ she must not know yet.

Her work phone was starting to ring and she could see about 15 messages pop up in her inbox with subject lines like "congratulations Betty" and "we knew you would do great things". There was even one from Marc that said "I hate you".

"Yes _Mode_ was nominated in the best fashion magazine category twice. The magazine is also up for Magazine Of The Year. However, that's not why I called. You're nominated for writing Aunt Betty. Your article "Confessions of a Fashion Misfit" is nominated for best writing in the monthly magazine category along with Matt's article series. Hey I got to go the teacher who's watching the class is starting to look at me funny. Congratulations Aunt Betty." As soon as Justin hung up she heard her sister's ring tone. She never got to answer the phone because her boyfriend pulled her into a congratulations kiss that had her almost knocking things offer desk again. They are definitely gonna have to learn not to make out on the desk.

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A/N: Does anybody want to be my beta for this story? We all know I do need one. All assistance will be appreciated.


	10. Oh MAMA II

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Special thank you to marielinha for being my beta for this chapter

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Chapter Eight: Oh MAMA Part II

He should be happy that he was doing his first truly "solo" shoot since becoming managing creative editor, instead he was absolutely terrified. From the beginning, nothing on the shoot had gone right and he wasn't just talking about the fact that his ex-boyfriend was the photographer. The design team was an hour behind putting the set together and the agency sent the wrong models.

Apparently they thought Monique was joking when she said they would now use models that were "pretty but people size." At least that's what they told him when he called to yell at them. The models he needed would be arriving in an hour. It really didn't matter anyway because most of the looks for the shoot weren't there yet. The only things they had were the items that their OCD designer brought herself. Said OCD designer stuck around long enough to take a couple of quick shots on the half together set before disappearing the moment old woman Meade walked into the studio. (He is still trying to get used to the fact that he is not supposed to insult Claire every time she walks into the room. Working for someone other than Wilhelmina is quite difficult)

Brianna sent a text message 20 minutes later saying an emergency came up and she would be sending a stylist over to put everything together. This wouldn't be a problem if Brianna would let them do the shoot the normal way. She's as bad as her brother, not that he would say that out loud.

Worst of all, his boyfriend is currently stalking him. At some point in the muffin line Cliff had let it slip to Troy that he was working with his ex-boyfriend on the Brianna West-Hartley shoot. Despite all indications otherwise, Troy was actually able to figure out that he was talking about him. Now his boyfriend was being even clingier then he was after they returned from the Bahamas.

Actually, thinking about it now, Cliff being here might be the only thing going right on this shoot. He was definitely talented and he was able to understand the direction notes Brianna sent through text messages. Even though he found it odd.

"I've been working in this industry for over a decade and this is the first time I've got directions via text message. I think this is flaky even for her." Cliff whispered.

Some of the more egotistical photographers probably wouldn't have put up with that. With Cliff there they may actually be able to save the shoot from going completely to hell.

The whole time Cliff was making little jokes to make him feel better.

"If we gave all the models a muffin I think they might be able to fit in the outfits." He quipped.

Cliff also distracted him with conversations about silly little things. It amazed him that despite all the bad blood between them, he slept with someone else and all, they were able to joke around like this and have really deep conversations about Cliff's favorite movies. He remembered Cliff saying that he wanted them to be friends again, but he didn't think that he meant it. If Cliff wanted them to be friends he would try as long as he stopped running into furniture in Cliff's presence.

"You absolutely have to watch the BluRay special features for Star Trek 2009. It's absolutely hilarious. I can't remember which writer it was, but anyway he started talking about the fact that we were essentially watching Kirk and Spock fall in love with each other. Then he catches himself and says it is not in a romantic way but like Butch and Sundance. I was rolling my eyes and laughing the entire time. It was too funny." Cliff said to him as they were waiting for the new models to arrive. Next time, he would make sure to book the models himself.

"I always knew there was something going on with Butch and Sundance. They were so the original Brokeback Mountain." He joked. It was obvious his boyfriend did not get it, but Cliff did.

They ignored Troy when he asked who Butch and Sundance were. This is what he gets for dating someone who is barely out of puberty. Now he knows how Cliff felt when he only wanted to watch the _Bring It On_ films on movie night.

"Seriously, why are they so freaked out about big gay space heroes? Are they afraid that little Johnny in middle of nowhere America will stop buying Star Trek merchandise if he realizes that the jokes about Jim Kirk sleeping with everybody really do mean everybody?"

"Probably." Marc replied.

"Not that I really should be surprised. Claire almost killed the now award nominated Lambert cover until Monique offered to buy any issues left over from the initial printing. If it wasn't for Monique I seriously doubt I would ever be asked to shoot anything for _Player _magazine." Cliff said in irritation.

"It's easier to marginalize us if they assume we're all into Broadway and Lady Gaga. Heaven forbid gay or bisexual men are into bar fights and monster truck rallies that work as firefighters or that are in the military."

"Did they really think pairing Spock with Uhura would make people stop thinking Jim and Spock were sleeping together? I think it made it worse. I like to tell myself that Jim's absolutely shocked expression in the transporter room was because he was upset that Uhura was kissing Spock because he liked Spock."

"But Spock and Uhura are so cute together." Both he and Cliff glared at Troy before he was done speaking. Wait was he still there? He was so caught up with his conversation with Cliff he completely forgot that Troy was standing next to him trying to grab his hand yet Marc kept pulling away.

"I'm not saying it wasn't cute in a straight coma inducing sugarcoated sort of way."

"Like Betty and Henry," Marc added under his breath quietly.

"I'm saying the entire point of their relationship was to eliminate the possibility of a queer reading of the film. Not that they did a really good job of it, even the cover work made me think threesome."

When he noticed Troy shocked expression Marc added. "Don't get offended, it's an academic term." Why was Troy still here?

"You completely forgot that they needed someone to hug Spock because he and Jim were not in that place yet. I don't know why everyone instantly thinks relationship or undying love. Amanda hugs and kisses Marc all the time and it doesn't mean anything." At that moment, Monique picks up on the angry look that Troy is giving all three of them.

"Troy, seriously what are you doing here? You're not assigned to this project. I'm not paying you to cling to your boyfriend like fake leather in hundred degree heat. Just because you're sleeping with my brand new junior creative director, doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Get To Work Now." Monique practically yelled at him in a voice that would make Wilhelmina proud.

"But he needs my help." Troy said in a very whiny voice that was giving him a headache. "Tell her that you need my help." Troy pleaded with him, but honestly Marc didn't want him there. He was making this entire thing more uncomfortable if such a thing were possible.

"I don't really care if he does need your help. You're supposed to be with Megan right now. I may be nicer than Wilhelmina, but I am a bigger bitch than she could ever be. Honestly Troy, I have no problem firing you. Get to work." With that, Troy was running out of the studio.

"Did you have to scare the almost teenager off like that?" Cliff asked her.

"Yes. You're the one who sent me a desperate text to get Marc's fan-club off the set."

"You did that on purpose?" Marc asked with a mixture of shock and respect.

"You can thank me later. If you're going to be my new junior creative director you are going to have to grow a bit more backbone. I want you to be vicious when you need to be. Avoidance solves nothing."

"Junior creative director?" He asked her slightly surprised.

"All the creative director candidates we interviewed for the last few days have sucked. You are the only person who I know that actually knows how to do the job. So I'm putting you in that position at the junior level. Basically you'll have most of the same responsibilities but with 30% less pay and the same office."

"I'm the new creative director?" Marc asked in absolute shock.

"You're the new junior creative director. That means you're not able to make any major decisions without me or Claire signing off on them, but you'll have a lot of creative freedom."

"Big difference, if you ask me. When Wilhelmina comes to give you her old office please act surprised and don't tell Amanda yet."

"Now can you please tell me where the designer is and where are the models?"

He and Cliff just looked at each other for a moment before they told her what happened.

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With a family like hers, nothing should surprise her anymore, especially anything involving her daughter. When your child comes back from the dead with a brand new gender nothing can really shock you anymore. She already had one surprise grandchild from Alexis, what was another. She doesn't know how she knows it, but she is positive that Alexis "Lexis" West-Hartley is her granddaughter.

The assumption is logical. At Alex's funeral/dinner party the only person who was more distraught than her, after the alcohol wore off, was Brianna. She was so upset that it took two assistants to carry her away as she screamed and cried in grief. Not even Jordan, her son's girlfriend at the time, was that upset.

The meeting where Brianna cut ties with Meade Publications was legendary. It was right after Fashion Week 2005 that Brianna pulled advertising from every single magazine printed by the company. The rumor mill was well aware of the screaming and name calling directed at Wilhelmina and Faye Somers during that infamous meeting.

The Mode rumor mill doesn't know that after that meeting Brianna went directly to Bradford's office interrupting the lunch Claire was having with her husband. More accurately, she was drinking her way through lunch when an enraged Brianna ran into the room. She was now aware that her alcoholism was at its worst during the months right after Alex "died."

Filled with anger and rage Brianna ran up to Bradford and started hitting him as she blamed him for Alex's death. Tears were streaming down her face the entire time. Nearly five years later she remembers everything Brianna said to Bradford that day, despite the high level of alcohol flowing through her veins that day, even if she did not understand it at the time. Only in hindsight does she understand Brianna's words and pronoun choice.

"You killed her. Alex's death is your fault. Why couldn't you love her the way she is—was? It was not an accident. You know it was not an accident. She killed herself because you couldn't love her." After punching Bradford again, she collapsed to the floor completely unconscious. Her husband chose not to press charges blaming Brianna's outburst on her grief. That should've been another sign. Her husband usually was not that forgiving.

Claire accompanied her to the hospital where she overheard the doctor tell Brianna she was 12 weeks pregnant or rather she got pregnant exactly one week before they all assumed Alex died. Maybe she should have realized something was going on when Brianna let her sit in on the ultrasound. However, Claire was too drunk at the time to truly understand the significance.

A week later it was announced that Brianna was taking a leave of absence from her company, yet, no mention of the pregnancy was made. Eleven months later, at Fashion Week 2006, Brianna West-Hartley debuted her fall collection, and her daughter, to a stunned crowd. Suzuki St Pierre's predecessor could not even get the identity of Lexis's father out of the close lipped fashion designer. It was the biggest mystery in the fashion industry since Faye Somers started wearing elastic waistbands during the early eighties.

Yet she figured it out so easily on this day. Claire knew instantly the moment she looked into Lexis's eyes. They were hazel green but they were still her daughter's eyes. They were still Alexis's eyes.

The fact that Brianna was out the door the moment she walked into the shoot practically screamed at her that her assumption was correct. However, she needed more proof.

Cliff was too distracted trying to work a photo shoot with his ex-boyfriend that was obviously falling apart to know why his friend ran out so quickly.

Her sharp as a tack EIC obviously came to the same conclusion because she was trying to track down the elusive designer as well.

Claire considered calling her former lover, but she doubted he would know anything. Brianna's relationship with her brother has always been complicated even when she was a little girl. Claire seriously doubted Brianna confided anything in Cal. Besides, she wasn't ready to ever speak to Cal Hartley again, not after what he said about their son.

She tried to call Alexis again, but couldn't get a hold of her. Claire knew the retreat excuse her assistant gave was a lie, yet she didn't push. She would have her assistant or maybe even Amanda try again later. When it came to family matters, Amanda was much better at being discreet.

That only left Brianna's nephew Matt who was playing Barbies with Lexis in the sex room/storage room on the giant bed. Amanda was also sitting there with cell phone in hand surrounded by laptops and wedding stuff. Amanda was probably the only person she knew that could be more productive in a bed then at a desk. Although it probably helped that the secret sex room had its own working bathroom for easy throwing up. She was just about to walk into the room when she heard Amanda begin to speak.

"This is your friend Amanda. Remember, the one you almost got pregnant. The one who helped set you up with the love of your life. The one who's name you actually call in bed. At least Matt can keep his girlfriends straight at climax." She could actually see Matt cringe when she said that to her son. It was obvious that was who Amanda was leaving the voicemail for. She almost started to laugh when Matt tried not to explain what his girlfriend meant by the term climax to Lexis.

"When you get this message please call me to explain why your nephew walked in on you and Betty having…" At that point in the voicemail Amanda pauses apparently remembering that a child was in the room and stopped herself from saying whatever DJ caught her son doing with his girlfriend. Knowing her son, it was probably highly inappropriate for DJ to see and could possibly result in more grandchildren.

"Okay Matt's niece or whatever is with us so I can't say what DJ walked in on you doing. However, I really would like to know how you managed to get the hot fudge not to burn her nipples. I have always had a problem with that." It became harder not to laugh when Matt reached over to cover his cousin's ears as his girlfriend continued to leave the world's most inappropriate voice mail. She sincerely hoped Amanda wasn't leaving this message on Daniel's office voicemail. Knowing Daniel, he would play this message in front of an employee or Betty.

"Anyway your mom would really like to know why he was there. Also, your mom is standing near me so I think she figured out that DJ walked in on you eating ice cream off of Betty's girls in the kitchen. Anyway, call me back. In addition, Matt told your girlfriend about selling you all the nude paintings he did of her, so you may want to keep her away from sharp objects. Okay bye."

"She's done Matt. You can uncover your cousin's ears now." Claire said as she completely walked into the room. "I assume Daniel isn't picking up phone calls from you either. Please tell me you left that message on his cell phone. You do remember he has a tendency to play messages when advertisers are in the room on speaker?"

"Yes, that was his cell phone. I can't get a hold of him or Betty. I've tried 10 times on each number. Candy said DJ was with Daniel this morning when he came into work and accompanied him to all his meetings up until 12:30 PM when they went over to Betty's office. They haven't come back to Mode yet, but Candy thinks Daniel took DJ to his 3:00 PM meeting offsite. I'll call her back later for more reconnaissance. Unfortunately, Betty doesn't have an assistant for me to harass yet."

"That's okay. We will try again later."

"This takes me back," she said picking one of the Barbies up.

"When your mommy was little she used to force Alex—Alexis to play Barbies with her. I see you are doing the same thing with Matt."

"I don't think Brianna had to force Alex/Alexis to play Barbies with her." She heard Amanda mumbled under her breath.

"It's nice to see my latest junior director playing Barbies with his niece/cousin during working hours." She said sarcastically.

"We are only here because scary chart lady can't figure out what office to give to Matt and this is the only room in the building that doesn't cause baby sickness all the time. It helps that it has a private bathroom so I don't have to listen to snide comments from Megan every time I throw up. Do you think I can just put my desk in here for the next five months? I'd definitely prefer to throw up in the private bathroom." Turning this room into office space may not be such a bad idea. Daniel and Wilhelmina started using it as a storage room after they stopped people from using it as an employee lounge. With Monique's special plan, they are definitely going to need more office space.

"Considering the one responsible for causing the baby sickness is part owner of the company I don't see why not. We need to find a better use for this room besides a storage closet. The morning sickness must be a Hartley thing. I wasn't sick at all with Daniel or Alexis but I think I lived in the bathroom with Tyler." She noticed Matt's uneasiness when she said this.

"I don't think that's true. Matt's aunt said she didn't get sick at all during her pregnancy. Although that may have been her mom's DNA. Matt did your mom get sick with you?" It was obvious that Amanda was trying to change the subject.

"I don't know. My mom finds that subject too unseemly to talk about."

"Maybe it comes from Lexis's father." Claire said providing Matt with an opening to talk about it.

"I wouldn't know. No one in the family knew that Briana was pregnant until she came back from France with Lexis, except for my dad. She was so adorable that we did not ask questions." Matt said hugging his cousin. After spending almost four decades on the Upper East Side, she could easily translate Matt statement. He basically just said he has no idea who the father was and was not going to ask questions for the sake of propriety.

"I don't have a daddy." Lexis said in annoyance seemingly just realizing they were talking about her as if she was not there. She made the same face Alexis made when she was annoyed. "Mommy says I only have mommies, but that's okay because it makes me special." Claire blinked a couple of times in shock before continuing.

"Did your mom actually say "mommies" sweetie?" Claire said sitting next to the little girl on the bed. The girl nodded her head. Just like Alex—Alexis did at that age.

"She showed me a picture of my other mommy. She looks like you." The little girl said quietly before going back to playing with her Barbies as she exchanged a shocked look with Matt. Seconds later, Amanda's mouth dropped in shock as if she just got it, but maybe it had something to do it the text message she just received. Everything seemed to stay quiet for a while.

"Hey baby girl, your mommy just asked me to be the stylist on her fashion shoot because she had to run to an emergency meeting." That was obviously an excuse. "Do you want to come with me as I play dress up with the big models?"

"Can I bring my Barbies?" The little girl looked at Claire again with a touch of annoyance. Definitely an Alexis look.

"Sure." With that, Amanda was gone from the room with a girl who was most likely her granddaughter.

"You think she's your granddaughter?" Matt said after a few seconds later in a tone of voice you reserve for the most shocking moments of your life.

"After that conversation, I know she's my granddaughter."

* * *

Most people assumed Amanda was stupid. However, she was smarter than most people gave her credit for. Over the years she became gotten extremely good at playing into the stereotype of the dumb blonde. Sometimes she did it just to mess with Betty's head. She obviously knew Betty wasn't the first Hispanic female justice. It was just fun to freak her out sometimes.

Matt didn't buy into her dumb act and neither did Monique. In reality, she was good at reading people and reading between the lines. The look Matt gave her was an obvious sign that she needed to get Lexis out of there as quickly as possible. She is happy Brianna gave her an excuse to monitor the secret mating rituals of the semi-beautiful. Watching Marc and Cliff dance around each other was almost as much fun as watching Daniel and Betty dance around each other before the two finally got a clue.

After silently watching Marc and Cliff act like Betty and Daniel use to when they were denying their feelings, she decided to let Marc know she was there by tapping him on the shoulder.

"What are you doing down here? And why are you carrying a little girl clutching a Barbie for dear life wearing an identical outfit to model number four?" Marc asked her right before he yelled at his assistant to see if the wardrobe for the rest of the shoot was there yet. He so needed her help.

"Mommy made it for me. Mommy makes me a new wardrobe for my Barbie dolls every season."

"Of course your Barbie dolls have the latest styles. If your mom was actually here right now she would be helping me figure out what outfit model number six should be wearing." Marc said in a sarcastic voice that kept getting higher.

"That's why I'm here. Monique asked me to fill in for her. Baby girl and I are going to help with the shoot."

"I know you are good at this, but I'm not sure if I'd ever want to work with a five year old unless his name was Justin Suarez. Can't you leave your future cousin-in-law with your boyfriend?"

"Matt had an impromptu meeting with Mommy Meade, so I'm in charge of baby girl for the duration. On the bright side, Baby girl and I wanted to see if you and the chubby one have managed to disappear into a storage closet yet to do grown-up things. Please say yes! I saw you two laughing and joking around earlier. You are so cute together. He's so much more cuddly now. I just want to hug him."

"I'm going to blame that last statement on the pregnancy hormones. I'm not doing anything with Cliff because I have a boyfriend who keeps sneaking down here every 5 minutes even though Monique threatened to fire him if he keeps bothering Cliff. Not that I would do anything with Cliff even if Troy wasn't crashing the photo shoot. Cliff and I are trying to be friends or at the very least be professional to each other. I am completely over my ex."

"You mean "friends" like what Betty and Daniel kept saying they were for the last four years? We all know how accurate that statement was. Last night Daniel's nephew walked in on him licking chocolate sauce off of Betty's Little Bettys in the kitchen. According to the rumor mill, you were so distracted by your chunky former boy toy that you ran into a door more than once. That's probably the reason why Troy is following you. They're probably filling his head with all the nasty things that everybody thinks you're doing with Cliff. Besides, you don't seem happy that Troy's here?"

"I love Cli – I mean Troy. Why am I telling you this? You do realize it is not appropriate to say those kinds of things in front of a small child. Forget small child, I did not need to hear those things. Oh god, I did not need that visual. Heterosexual sex is creepy." Marc said with a visible shiver.

"Don't be mad at me. Nobody becomes a good mommy the moment they get pregnant. I'm learning. Being a mommy is hard."

"You are the one who made Uncle Cliff cry." Baby girl said interrupting their conversation.

"I did not make Cliff cry." Marc said in his defense. "We are friends now."

"Mommy said you broke Uncle Cliff's heart into a million pieces. She called you that word for boy parts that I'm not allowed to repeat."

"Don't children say the cutest things?" Cliff said rescuing the pair. "Alexis you're going to be my special helper today. Marc and Mandy need to get all the pretty people dressed so I can start taking pictures." Just then, Amanda realizes that the wardrobe finally made it to the shoot and went straight to work.

* * *

"Tyler is Lexis's cousin and uncle." Amanda said 45 minutes later after they kick the last model out of the dressing room. She was dying to share this bit of gossip with Marc but wanted to keep it from everyone else.

"What are you talking about?" Marc said in open mouth shock.

"The recently female Alexis knocked up Matt's aunty dearest right before he faked his death."

"That explains why she ran out of here so quickly. I'm so jealous. Why does that bitch get all the hot men? Such a waste."

"Speaking of absolute waste, how are things going with you and the chubby one?"

"That is the second time that you called him that. I thought chubby one refers to Betty."

"She's in London probably making all those bathroom BJ rumors true. Your former boy-toy, who I know you're still in love with, is the new chubby one. He reminds me of a teddy bear. You know I don't buy that "just friends" thing at all. Neither does Troy since he's stalking the shoot. He didn't leave until you threatened to call Monique back down. The fact that you forced your boyfriend off the set tells me something big is going on. I'm your best friend. You tell me everything."

"You don't tell me everything anymore because you're too busy with your baby's daddy. Why should I tell you anything?"

"You're so cute when you're jealous. You'll always be my favorite. I've just been busy with the baby and trying to start a new career when I keep throwing up all the time. At least today I am actually working. But I think Matt's mom is sabotaging my new company. However, I still know you and I know there's something going on. You kicked Troy off the set."

"It's not a big deal. I'm just trying to keep the talent happy."

"I'm sure you want to keep the talent very happy. You want to give Cliff lots of happies. Just so you know by happies, I mean orgasms."

"Is it safe for me to come in? By the way, your boyfriend paid me twenty bucks to keep you away from your ex-boyfriend and best friend. For some reason he thinks you're sleeping with Amanda and Cliff. Is there something I should know? Are you still in love with Cliff? " They heard a voice say from behind the makeshift door.

"Why does everyone think I am in love with my ex-boyfriend? I love Tracy – I mean Troy. Justin what are you doing here? School isn't over for several hours. Your mom threatened to do horrible things to me if I let you skip classes to hang out at Mode.

"Great subject change. She knows I'm here. Considering that half of my teachers have the "I don't feel like being at work today flu" my mom signed me out so I can do something constructive today besides text message my boyfriend. Apparently, Austin's mom Tiffany is upset about last month's cell phone bill. Is it really my fault that she won't get Austin an unlimited plan? Austin's step-dad is so cheap. She and the step monster won't let Austin come to DC in two weeks if we keep texting all the time."

"Fine, you can help Mandy while I go talk to my boyfriend about backing off a little." Marc said as he ran out of the room.

"So he is still in love with Cliff?" asked Justin.

"Completely."

"Do you know why Monique offered me fifty dollars to lock Marc and Cliff in the closet?"

"She's playing matchmaker again. Honestly, she needs to start a web site."

"Troy doesn't stand a chance."

"Not at all."


	11. More Fun With Email

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. I remember last time I did a chapter like this being specifically told not to use the line "sent from my blackberry" again. I have complied.

Special thank you to marielinha for being my beta for this chapter

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Transatlantic Conversations You Do Not Want to Have in Writing**

From: Fashion_TV_News_alerts

To: EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: The Suzuki St Pierre Report for May 28, 2010

**The MAMA's Have Gone To The Fashionable.**

In an unprecedented showing, Mode magazine was nominated for an impressive five MAMA awards including magazine of the year, the most ever for any fashion magazine. But what we really want to know is if the MIA Wilhelmina Slater will show up looking absolutely fabulous as usual.

[Click to read more]

**Trouble in Isabella Paradise**

Rumor has it that Isabella Press is now suffering the same financial troubles Meade Publications encountered last year and there wasn't a single hot embezzling Australian in sight. The new Isabella EIC Penelope Graybridge, brought on in November 2009, has done little to boost sagging sales or to successfully bring the hardcopy magazine kicking and screaming into the digital age. If Isabella doesn't get some hard cash soon their wardrobe department will be getting their latest styles from Target.

[Click to read more]

**Whose Baby Is It Anyway?**

Since fashion week 2006 people have been wondering about the daddy of the absolutely adorable and fashionable Alexis "Lexis" West-Hartley, daughter of fashionista Brianna West-Hartley. Speculation has reached a fever pitch after the elusive fashion designer was seen visiting the former almost boy toy of Claire Meade at an exclusive rehab facility in the Appalachian mountains outside the city. The family resemblance is uncanny. Could he be baby Lexis's father?

[Click to read more]

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: Wu,Byron

Seriously, Byron what the hell were you thinking writing trash like that about Brianna? What's happened to your journalistic integrity?

(Although, I really did like the flattering things you said about _Mode_in the first piece. That's the only reason why I'm sending you an e-mail instead of showing up at your house. You know your wife will let me in because she loves me.)

Oh my god, this is the most ridiculous story you have ever posted. How have you not figured out who Tyler really is yet? Do you actually think Brianna is sleeping with a 28-year-old in rehab? Honestly, Byron I thought underneath your Suzuki St Pierre façade you were still a capable journalist. I guess I was wrong.

I cannot believe that you ran with a story so stupid and inaccurate. Oh wait, yes I can. You still think Tyler was Claire Meade's cougar toy. I expected better from you because at least you know how to fact check or have you given up all hope of ever getting out of fashion Siberia.

Tell your wife hi and I will see both of you at my wedding. Did you tell her yet that you will be going as your fashionable alter ego?

I think I found you a nice "date" that won't piss off your wife. He's one of the photographers nominated for a MAMA. He is cute and cuddly, but just got out of a bad relationship with some muscle-bound closet case idiot that I could not stand and he needs a safety date.

PS: You owe me a really good wedding present for publishing something that stupid. I want something good or I'll be giving my next exclusive to the fine people at Fashion World.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: West, Brianna

BCC: VP_Meade_CM; HartleyMA (Mode)

Subject: Brianna what were you thinking?

Brianna, where are you? More importantly why the hell did you not tell me that you slept with Alexis before she became Alexis? You already let the cat out of the bag, there's no point in denying it now.

I can't believe you left Mode like that. That told me the truth more than anything else. Fortunately, Amanda is doing a very good job right now at the shoot even though everything is going wrong.

PS: I love my wedding dress but do you really think gray is appropriate for a wedding. I'm okay with it, but I have a feeling my mom will freak out just a little bit. Maybe that's a good thing.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: VP_Meade_CM; HartleyMA (Mode); AmandaTS

Subject: Fwd: The Suzuki St Pierre Report for May 28, 2010

Please read below. This could be bad. Even the press is starting to ask questions. The fact that Suzuki noticed the family resemblance between Tyler and Lexis is not good. Thank god, he put two and two together and got 69. I sent him a separate e-mail about how stupid it was, but I doubt he's going to back down. If he actually starts doing research, he might figure out the truth.

I don't know what's worse, people figuring out that Tyler is Cal Hartley's son or people figuring out that Alexis Meade is the mother/father of Lexis West Hartley. This is going to be a media disaster. I think we need to put together a PR strategy just in case. We will talk tomorrow morning. I need to leave early to meet with my culinary savior for the wedding and Antonella ditched the town car that was supposed to pick her up after school.

Call me if there's an emergency. I will be on my Blackberry.

* * *

From: AmandaTS

To: VP_Meade_CM; HartleyMA (Mode); EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re:The Suzuki St Pierre Report for May 28, 2010

How can they think that Brianna slept with her own nephew? That's so creepy and kind of incestuous.

* * *

From: HartleyMA (Mode)

To: VP_Meade_CM; AmandaTS; EIC_Mode_MOR

Mandy, people don't know Tyler is my brother or even Claire's son. We are trying to keep it that way because my dad is an asshole.

Monique, I think putting together a PR packet might be a good idea. If this goes public, we need to be able to beat my dad at his own game.

* * *

From: AmandaTS

To: VP_Meade_CM; HartleyMA (Mode); EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re:The Suzuki St Pierre Report for May 28, 2010

I forgot about that. Hey can you please pick me up a snack. Maybe some buffalo wings from down the street with some jalapeno poppers. Also, bring some cheddar cheese dipping sauce for the chicken.

Oh and baby wants ice cream. I love you.

* * *

From: HartleyMA (Mode)

To: VP_Meade_CM; AmandaTS; EIC_Mode_MOR

Do you want anything else while I'm out? I love you too.

* * *

From: AmandaTS

To: VP_Meade_CM; HartleyMA (Mode); EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re:The Suzuki St Pierre Report for May 28, 2010

Can't type. Throwing up now. I hate you. Bring ginger ale. Lots of ginger ale.

* * *

From: VP_Meade_CM

To: EIC_Mode_MOR; HartleyMA (Mode); AmandaTS

Subject: Fwd: The Suzuki St Pierre Report for May 28, 2010

Do you realize that you two are hitting reply to all every time you send a message? Amanda, I will find an intern to bring you a tea that helped me. Maybe once you stop throwing up you can try calling my son again. I'm going to try e-mail.

* * *

From: VP_Meade_CM

To: EIC_ModeUK_DM

CC: EIC_SuarezBR(London Hub); Betty_at_home

Subject: Why is my grandson in England?

Since you and your girlfriend are not responding to my phone calls or Amanda's I have resorted to sending an e-mail. I shouldn't be surprised; your sister is not answering my calls either. Why did DJ show up at your house last night? In addition, if you are going to have sex in your kitchen, please remember to lock the doors.

* * *

From: VP_Meade_CM

To: Meade, Alexis

Subject: How are you?

Alexis, this is your mother. How are you doing? I've tried calling your office but they said you were on a retreat. I thought you should know that DJ mysteriously showed up at Betty and Daniel's house last night. You may want to check in on your son.

Also did you have sex with Brianna West-Hartley when you were dating Jordan?

* * *

From: EIC_SuarezBR(London Hub)

To: EIC_ModeUK_DM

Subject: Re: Why is my grandson in England?

Great, now your mom thinks we had sex in the kitchen. I think you need to call your mom now.

* * *

From: EIC_ModeUK_DM

To: EIC_SuarezBR(London Hub)

Subject: Re: Why is my grandson in England?

Not until we know why DJ is actually here. Did DJ say anything to you this afternoon when he was with you at London Hub?

Sorry for the late last-minute meeting. I will be leaving the office soon. Do you want me to bring pizza or do you want to go out for a late dinner?

Really, what's so bad about us having sex in the kitchen? I thought by the fact you wanted to tried the ice cream thing that you were into things besides missionary. Not that I'm not okay with only doing missionary style, I just want to know how far I can push you before you hit back.

* * *

From: EIC_SuarezBR(London Hub)

To: EIC_ModeUK_DM

Subject: Re: Why is my grandson in England?

You're right we shouldn't call your mom until we know something. DJ still hasn't told me a thing. I think I am going to have to ask my sister for advice.

Bring pizza and maybe some pasta. You know what I like. I think DJ will more likely open up to us here than at a restaurant.

I'm not saying no to sex in the kitchen. I just don't like the thought of other people knowing about my sex life. I don't even want to think about what would happen if my dad found out about the ice cream thing.

* * *

From: Monique_At_Home

To: Gio_At_Home

Subject: Where Are You and Have You Seen Your Sister?

Seriously, why can't you text message me like a normal boyfriend. Why did I get you an iPhone again if you're never going to use it? Anyway, my mom is driving me crazy and I'm about to strangle her in a house filled with people. If she says one more thing about how ethnic the food as I really will hurt her. Help me.

You're supposed to be a good, supportive fiancé and be here for me. Seriously, do you really expect me to believe you absolutely needed to go ingredient shopping 10 minutes before me and my mother got here? Baby, I know you too well.

If you want to have sex any time between now and the wedding you will get here as soon as possible. It's already 8:00 PM. I have no problem using a vibrator and writing my own porn. I don't need you for sex; I can get off on my own. I need you to hold my hand and make sure I don't hit my mother or get completely smashed in front of my employees.

Also wherever you are hiding from me is your sister there? She was originally going to come with Justin but that was before he showed up to Mode early. She didn't get in the town car after class and she's not responding to my calls.

I hope she's not with that boyfriend of hers. I hate him. I seriously don't trust him not to take advantage of her. We so need to put her on the pill. I hope that things will calm down once we're all in Manhattan.

Anyway call me, e-mail me, text message me, or better yet show up. I love you. You better get here. I have a surprise for you.

* * *

From: Gio_At_Home

To: Monique_At_Home

Subject: Where Are You And Have You Seen Your Sister

I did need to leave for more ingredients. As I was shopping I ran across my sister getting groped by the slime ball in question. We'll be there in a few minutes.

Make an appointment with your girl doctor for after the wedding for my sister. I don't expect her to do any better than I did.

* * *

From: Justin_Hart_Austin

To: Betty lover DM; EIC_ModeUK_DM

Subject: Grandpa knows about the ice cream sex

Hi Daniel - it is your favorite future nephew. I just wanted to let you know that grandpa knows about you and Betty coming up for the wedding on the 11th and the ice cream sex thing yesterday. Amanda accidentally let it slip when she was trying appetizers for the wedding. Actually she let it slip when Monique and her mom started arguing again right after Monique and her pseudo daughter stopped arguing about Antonella's boyfriend. (I hate the guy. He calls me the other F word all the time. I am so happy that I am going to private school next year.)

I really thought I would stop finding out about my aunt's sex life after she moved to England. I don't need those visuals. When I stay with you guys for the internship please lock the doors. I have no desire to learn about straight sex. Although I am perfectly okay if I get a pseudo niece or nephew sometime soon. (Let's be honest any child you and Betty have will be more like a niece or nephew than a cousin.)

Also, your mom offered me 20 bucks if I would contact you and see why DJ was at your house. She says call her back as quickly as possible.

* * *

From: Betty Lover DM

To: Justin_Hart_Austin

Send: May 29 3:22 AM

Subject: Re: Grandpa knows about the ice cream sex

I will call my mom as soon as I know why DJ is here.

Betty and I haven't done anything yet that could give you a brand new cousin nor are we planning on it anytime soon. Condoms were invented for a reason. (You better actually be using them if you're doing certain things with your boyfriend.)

We were not having ice cream sex. I was just eating…

Actually I'm not going to explain what Betty and I were doing until you're older or maybe ever. God, I can't believe I'm having this conversation with the 15 year old nephew of my girlfriend.

Your aunt is going to kill me if she finds out her dad knows. You definitely will not get any cousins that way. How much is it going to cost me for you to keep quiet about this to your aunt and to get your assistance in persuading your grandfather to not kill me when we get there on the 11th for the MAMA awards?

* * *

From: Justin_hart_Austin

To: Betty lover DM

Subject: Re: Grandpa knows about the ice cream sex

For my silence about grandpa knowing about the "ice cream sex" I want to go to the MAMA awards. To keep grandpa from killing you I'm going to need a European shopping spree solely for back-to-school purposes. I need to look good at my new prep school come September.

* * *

From: Betty lover DM

To: Justin_hart_Austin

Deal. I guess I'm telling your mom they're presents again. You're getting so good at extortion. You're going to do so well at Mode.

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: Beauty_by_HSuarez

Subject: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

Considering how bad the rumor mill is at Mode you probably already know that Daniel's nephew showed up Thursday completely unannounced. I will not tell you what he walked in on in case you don't know already.

We have no idea why he wants to stay with us and refuses to stay with his class on the field trip. He is not answering my questions and Alexis is not returning phone calls. Daniel has called her 20 times over the last two days. We even tried pizza bribery last night with DJ and got nothing. The only thing he wants to talk about is how I handled mom dying of cancer.

Help.

* * *

From: Beauty_by_HSuarez

To: Betty_At_Home

Subject: Re: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

Food bribery only works on you and probably Amanda. For Justin it usually takes clothing or Broadway tickets to get anything out of him. It really just depends on what DJ is into.

Whatever you do don't yell. That worked out really badly last night when Monique started yelling at her boyfriend's sister for doing inappropriate things with her boyfriend. I'm surprise the girl didn't break the window when she ran out of the house slamming the door. Did I mention how happy I am that my son is gay so I don't have to worry about him getting someone pregnant?

Anyway, if bribery doesn't work just read his Facebook page.

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: Beauty_by_HSuarez

Subject: Re: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

Yes, you have mentioned repeatedly how happy you are that Justin is gay. He could still get a girl pregnant. He could be bisexual.

I've tried the Facebook thing already. Most of it is in French. I have to go. I am supposed to be meeting Daniel at his office for my official dress fitting.

* * *

From: Beauty_by_HSuarez

To: Betty_at_home

Subject: Re: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

I suggest using translating software. Did you hear anything from DJ's mo– does DJ consider Alexis his mom or his father?

How did the dress fitting go yesterday? Can you send pictures? I can't believe you're going to be in a photo shoot for a fashion magazine. I need good news. Moving is driving me crazy. I wish the school year would hurry up and end, so we don't have to spend time between the new house and Queens.

* * *

From: Betty_at_home

To: Beauty_by_HSuarez

Subject: Re: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

The dress fitting went fine. No, I can't send you pictures. I'm not even sure they brought the actual dresses for the shoot. Daniel says Brianna is a bit on the paranoid side. For example when she was dating Alexis in high school, she wouldn't let Daniel tell anyone. Although maybe she knew about what happened between Daniel's mom and her brother. Who knows?

I may not get to do the fashion shoot anyway. They're still trying to get Lindsey Dunne to sign off on it. Daniel agreed to let them use publicity from my MAMA nomination to help promote London Hub but the lawyers still haven't signed off on it.

DJ refers to Alexis as his mother but he uses the English word even if he speaking in French. He uses the French word to refer to Lucy even when he speaking in English.

I tried the translator software but there really wasn't anything there. We're going to do the tourist thing tomorrow, as well as, some serious shopping.

* * *

From: Beauty_by_HSuarez

To: Betty_at_home

Subject: Re: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

Daniel's brother slash sister dated Matt's aunt in high school? That's a little disturbing.

I have another suggestion on how to get DJ to open up. If he wants to talk to you about anything focus on that subject. Maybe he's telling you something in an indirect way.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR,

To: Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

Sent: May 30, 2010 9:33 AM

For those of you who remember this list from The_Detty_Conspiracy_Group days, welcome back. Also welcome to Betty and Daniel for this round of the conspiracy.

Yes, we had all sorts of crazy emails like these when we were desperately trying to get you two together. Since that mission is completed our current mission is trying to get Marc back with Cliff.

Thursday's photo shoot went quite well with minimal interference, although we are seriously going to have to do something about the boyfriend. Does anybody have any cute gay friends that we can set Troy up with.

Also according to my intelligence sources Marc is going with Cliff to brunch tomorrow on Memorial Day.

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: Beauty_by_HSuarez

Subject: Re: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

It's not really that creepy. Alexis and Brianna are the same age. Daniel said they went to the same school. Okay maybe it's slightly creepy due to a certain thing I can't tell you about but neither one of them knew about it at the time.

I think your idea is working. But I'm a little worried that he only wants to talk about how I felt when mom died. I'm starting to worry that something is really wrong.

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: EIC_Mode_MOR, Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

There was a mailing list?

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR,

To: Betty_At_Home; EIC_ModeUK_DM; Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

Yes, there was a mailing list. Daniel was on it once he figured out that he was in love with you.

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: EIC_Mode_MOR; EIC_ModeUK_DM;

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

When was that?

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: Betty_At_Home EIC_ModeUK_DM;

Subject: Re: Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

Right after fashion week 2010 when he figured out that he may or may not have got Amanda pregnant. It actually occurred on the same day. Do you remember when I fainted in the bathroom? I was in shock because your current boyfriend finally confessed that he loved you.

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: EIC_Mode_MOR; EIC_ModeUK_DM;

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

You're trying to get Marc and Cliff back together after Marc cheated on him with my neighbor?

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: Betty_At_Home; EIC_ModeUK_DM;

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

When you say it like that it sounds absolutely horrible, but it's not like that. It's obvious they still love each other. Marc walked into a doorway Thursday because he was so focused on Cliff. Everyone will tell you that Marc completely ignored Troy at the shoot.

* * *

From: HartleyMA (Mode);

To: EIC_Mode_MOR; AmandaTS

Subject: Re: Welcome to the Marc /Cliff forever conspiracy group

Monique, thank you for never putting me on that mailing list. Were you setting me up with Amanda just to get me out of the way? Mandy, were you my consolation prize?

* * *

From: AmandaTS

To: HartleyMA (Mode); EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

Oh please. Like I would be anybody's second choice. Can we have cybersex? I'm bored because Marc is with Troy right now and I am not throwing up.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR,

To: HartleyMA (Mode); AmandaTS

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

Do you realize that I am still being cc on these messages?

Please stop sending dirty e-mails to your boyfriend when I can read them. Isn't he across the hallway right now at his apartment?

Can you come over tonight to help with wedding plans? I know its Sunday, but I need your help. My mom wants to redo the seating chart. Is it too late to just go to Vegas?

* * *

From: AmandaTS

To: EIC_Mode_MOR,

Subject: Wedding Plans

I don't know if I can arrange something in Vegas so soon for the bachelorette party. I thought you wanted to do the party in DC. I even got you tickets and backstage passes to the Backstreet Boys concert on the 11, because Daniel said you actually slept with one of the members and you use their "most likely to make you cry" songs to torture people. I'm your best friend, you have to tell me which Backstreet Boy you Slept with?

I can't come over right now because Matt is coming over to have real sex in a few minutes. I can come over tomorrow after we go to Matt's mom's Memorial Day party if I survive.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR,

To: AmandaTS

Subject: Wedding plans

I'll pay you $1000 to never ever asked that question again especially in front of my future husband. Also, please change the bachelorette party idea. I would love to go to the concert, but Gio would be pissed if I got within 1000 feet of Wolf Trap that night.

That statement is not a confirmation that I may have in fact slept with a Backstreet Boy at some point in the very very very distant past.

* * *

From: Beauty_by_HSuarez

To: Betty_At_Home

Subject: Re: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

You're reading too much into DJ's questions about our mom and cancer. Has Alexis' called about the DJ situation yet?

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: Beauty_by_HSuarez

Subject: Re: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

No and that's why I'm worried. Do you remember when mom first got sick and she told us that she was visiting her family in Mexico when she was really at the hospital? I can't help but think that's what Alexis is doing. If she was at a retreat, she would have called. If she's at the hospital, then she's not going to be answering phone calls or e-mails.

I don't know if DJ can handle losing another mom. I don't know if Daniel can deal with Alexis being dead again. You saw how bad Molly was. I'm not sure he can take it. It breaks my heart when he's hurt like that. Okay now you have me crying as I type this.

* * *

From: Beauty_by_HSuarez

To: Betty_At_Home

Subject: Re: Help: How Do You Get A Sulky Teenager To Tell You Anything?

Betty, maybe you're reading way too much into it. You're speculating and that could lead to you coming to the wrong conclusion. Call me if you need me. I love you and I'll be there for you.

* * *

From: VP_Meade_CM

To: Meade, Alexis

Subject: Alexis call me

Your brother finally called me and explained what's going on with DJ. Unfortunately they don't know why he showed up at their house and refuses to leave. We're all worried that you haven't called us. Alexis' what's going on?

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To:West, Brianna

Subject: Call Me

Brianna it's been four days. You haven't returned my calls or e-mails. You actually had your assistant pick up baby Lexis from Amanda's apartment Thursday night. That in itself tells me something is going on.

I'm not mad at you. I don't even think Claire is mad at you. Unlike Lucy, you had a much more complicated situation. Matt is not mad at you but he finds the whole situation just a little creepy. Technically Tyler is your daughter's uncle and cousin. Other than that fact, which was completely not your fault because nobody knew, the situation isn't that bad.

Okay so you slept with a guy who had a girlfriend at the time and then faked his death the week after he got you pregnant. Then she comes back from the dead as a woman and doesn't call you again. "What could you have done?"

I promise I won't judge you. Call me.

* * *

From: HartleyMA (Mode);

To: EIC_Mode_MOR; Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Re: Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

The party with my mom was horrible, but something good did come out of it. I may have a possible former boyfriend that may be Troy's type. I talked to Andy yesterday at my mother's boring as hell Memorial Day soiree. She invited him to the event just to talk me out of my relationship with Amanda. She still thinks he was just a friend instead of a boyfriend. Anyway, Andy wished me luck and asked if I knew of any hot available guys for some charity event he needs to go to at the end of June.

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: HartleyMA (Mode); Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc /Cliff forever conspiracy group

You're bisexual? Is this new? You never mentioned anything about a former boyfriend when we were dating.

* * *

From: HartleyMA (Mode)

To: Betty_At_Home; Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc /Cliff forever conspiracy group

You never mentioned being in love with your best friend when we were dating so I guess we're even. Although unlike you I did mention something about my ex.

I told you that Andy help me out during our break up after you cheated on me with Henry. (I was only ok with you cheating on me with Daniel because you were actually in love with him.)

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: HartleyMA (Mode); Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc /Cliff forever conspiracy group

First, I thought that it was Andi with an "I". Second, nothing happened with Daniel until recently. At least I had the decency to wait more than 48 hours before I slept with someone else.

Not that I'm not happy that Amanda finally has a decent boyfriend. Also, congratulations on the baby again.

* * *

From: HartleyMA (Mode)

To: Betty_At_Home; Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Re: Welcome to the Marc/Cliff forever conspiracy group

Please do not pretend to be innocent when we both know you're not. You really expect me to believe nothing happened. I know about the Christmas party and I know about you kissing him the week before we got back together in the Bahamas. Let's not even begin to mention the emotional cheating. You have been in love with Daniel longer then you have known me.

* * *

From: Betty_At_Home

To: HartleyMA (Mode); Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Re:Welcome to the Marc /Cliff forever conspiracy group

Matt, before you start throwing stones please remember that you now live in a glass house too. Before Amanda got pregnant she got completely wasted at Monique's, not a Christmas party and practically told me about you coming over to her apartment the night you thought you got me pregnant and kissed her.

* * *

From: HartleyMA (Mode)

To: Betty_At_Home; Marc/Cliff_lovers_Conspiracy_Group

Subject: Re: Welcome to the Marc /Cliff forever conspiracy group

Yes, I kissed Amanda at her apartment and she pushed me away. I went to her after I saw you and Daniel being all in love at your house. I find out later that you actually told him you thought you were pregnant before you told me.

You have always trusted him more than me.

* * *

From: EIC_ModeUK_DM

To: AmandaTS;EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: I think my girlfriend is going crazy but I love her anyway.

I've been watching this conversation on my blackberry as I watch Betty become more and more upset. She just started screaming at her computer and threatened to write an article series about stupid ex boyfriends who get their new girlfriend pregnant less than two days after the breakup. She is scaring DJ. She's scaring me.

* * *

From:EIC_Mode_MOR

To:EIC_ModeUK_DM; AmandaTS;

Subject: Re: I think my girlfriend is going crazy but I love her anyway.

Daniel - let Matt and Betty have this out now. You know her better than I do and even I know that your girlfriend has a tendency to hold things in. This needs to come out now. It is better to have this argument with each other in e-mail then at my actual wedding. Amanda and Betty are still friends and you and Matt share a brother. She's not going to be able to avoid him. You, Amanda, and I have been waiting for this to happen for months. Just let them argue now. If she starts to break things get DJ out of the room and get some really good chocolate. Maybe you could just go for sex. That might help the tension levels.

* * *

From: EIC_ModeUK_DM

To: AmandaTS; EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re: I think my girlfriend is going crazy but I love her anyway.

I've already sent DJ upstairs. I think I'll try for a massage instead of sex if this crazy plan doesn't work. Do you think maybe we should let them know that they're still CCing everyone and we can see this entire argument?

* * *

From:EIC_Mode_MOR

To:EIC_ModeUK_DM; AmandaTS

Subject: Re: I think my girlfriends going crazy but I love her anyway.

Probably,but this is so entertaining. Got to love reply to all!

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To:Mode_Users

Subject: Message from Editor-in-Chief Monique Osborn-Rossi: Changes at Mode

For those of you who were not at the staff meeting today, there have been some major changes in the organization of the magazine beyond my new last name. We will not be having a new creative director come on board. Instead, Mr. Marc St. James will become our new Junior Creative Director taking over the position once held by Wilhelmina Slater. Mr. Matt Hartley will become the new Director for Meade Publications Public Outreach. He will also be working on very special projects for Mode magazine.

* * *

From: NikolaiH

To:EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re: Message from Editor-in-Chief Monique Osborn-Rossi: Changes at Mode

I can't believe you hired Marc to be the new creative director. Everybody knows the Junior at the front of that title is supposed to make people less upset that you gave him a job that he doesn't deserve when six months ago he was still picking up Wilhelmina's dry-cleaning.

Is he blowing you too? Consider this my resignation. I quit.

Fuck you

Sent from my iPhone

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To:NikolaiH

Subject: Message from Editor-in-Chief Monique Osborn-Rossi: Changes at Mode

Nikolai, I accept your resignation. That's too bad because I was planning on making you the new managing editor for the creative department. Oh well, I guess I'll be giving that job to someone else now.

I suggest, because you just essentially accused me of hiring someone for a position solely based on sexual favors, you don't ask me for a letter of recommendation.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: Creative_Director_Mode_MSJ

Subject: Special project for the DC shoot and other Mode staff issues

Hey, Marc I'm going to need a list of possible people to take over the Managing Editor position for the creative side. Nikolai just quit after he accused you of getting your job by sleeping with me.

Also because he just quit, I need you to go with one of the photographers for a few days and check out a lot of the locations for DC. We aren't going to have a lot of time to shoot at the State Department or Congress and we need to set things up. I just wanted to make sure we don't have a repeat of the United Nations shoot. I'm actually surprised the State Department is letting us shoot there after that fiasco. You know someone there knows about it.

* * *

From: Creative_Director_Mode_MSJ

To: EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Special project for the DC shoot and other Mode staff issues

I'm not surprised he quit. He's an asshole. He's hated me for a very long time.

Although, I can't believe you're using him as an excuse. You were never planning on him going to DC. I am so on to you. In case you've forgotten, I'm the one who help you manipulate Betty and Daniel.

You don't want me to go down to DC to scout locations with my ex-boyfriend. You want me and him to play tourist in love. I will respectfully decline. By the way, I don't love him anymore. I don't know where you got that idea from. I love Trevor.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: Creative_Director_Mode_MSJ

Subject: Re: Special project for the DC shoot and other Mode staff issues

You really think I'm going to use you like that. By the way, your boyfriend's name is Troy.

If you decide not to go I guess I'm going to have to send Troy to scout locations in DC. I don't have anyone else to send because they're all working on other projects or trying to fix what our favorite dick sabotaged before he quit via iPhone yesterday.

* * *

From: Creative_Director_Mode_MSJ

To: EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re: Special project for the DC shoot

You are just as evil as Wilhelmina and I truly mean that as a compliment. Fine. What time do I leave? By the way, we better have separate rooms.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: Creative_Director_Mode_MSJ

Subject: Re: Special project for the DC shoot

Of course, you will have separate rooms. I'm not that evil. Cliff is a friend of mine. I could never do that to him. Because DC really isn't that far away from New York you're driving down. I'm sure you'll enjoy the quality time. By the way, how was your Memorial Day brunch? I was so busy yesterday that I forgot to ask.

* * *

From: Creative_Director_Mode_MSJ

To: EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re: Special project for the DC shoot and other Mode staff issues

How did you know about Memorial Day?

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: Creative_Director_Mode_MSJ

Subject: Re: Special project for the DC shoot and other Mode staff issues

Marc, I am talented. I also have excellent resources and good Intel. I'll have an intern send you more information for DC.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: West, Brianna

Subject: Are you okay?

Are you okay? It's been almost a week and nobody's heard from you. I wasn't even this bad after my first husband died. Let us know that you're okay. Your assistant can't keep making excuses for you for forever. Although, she's come up with some really good excuses. A last-minute trip to Europe, after you receive some mysterious phone call Friday morning. Do you really expect me to believe you're in France right now? I'm this close to having Victoria Hartley come over to your apartment. You know I wouldn't threaten you with that unless I was worried.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: HartleyMA (Mode)

Subject: Special charity projects

Hey Matt, I finally figured out your first assignment. I want you to reinvent the Mode signature event of the Black and White ball.

Last year your daddy suspended it and because Daniel was still participating in his sojourn to Tibet no one was able to talk Cal out of it. I think this is the opportunity to bring back the event and make it better than some stuffy excuse for a tax write off to make rich people feel better about themselves.

* * *

From: HartleyMA (Mode)

To: EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Special charity project

Can we please, please just forget about the Black and White ball? These charity events are so boring and superficial. Half the time most people there don't even know what charity they're supporting. I hate these things. I'm sure you hate these things. Just like me you were probably forced to go to dozens of these phony events where rich people try to show off. Why do you want to bring back an event like this? There has to be a better way to raise money for charity.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: HartleyMA (Mode);

Subject: Re: Special charity project

I want to reinstate the event because the B&WB has been the signature event of Mode for decades. However, the old version is not coming back. I want you and Amanda to reinvent this gala. You're both creative and work well together. I think this is more suited to Amanda's talents and I'm planning on getting myself a temp to answer my phones. You and Amanda don't even have to come into the office. You guys can telecommute. It might not be a bad idea because the contractors will be working on your office space.

* * *

From: HartleyMA (Mode);

To:EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re: Special charity project

I'm sure my years of attending boring, pretentious events will provide me with everything I need to make an event that isn't boring and pretentious. Thank you for giving Amanda something she can do from the apartment. I think the baby sickness is getting worse. I made an appointment for Monday, so neither one of us will be in that day.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: HartleyMA (Mode);

Subject: Re: Special charity project

Don't worry about Monday. A lot of your projects for the next couple of months will be stuff you can work from the apartment on.

You got the right idea for the ball. Just make sure that we do present the latest styles. We are Mode after all. Fashion is our business.

* * *

From: EIC_Mode_MOR

To: Creative_Director_Mode_MSJ

Subject: Last minute things for the DC trip.

Hey Marc,

Before you leave tomorrow I thought I would let you know I need everything including the pre-information and the site locations by Monday morning for the DC shoot by e-mail. However, if you want to spend some more time in DC be my guest. You realize that gay marriage is completely legal in our nation's capital. Just make sure you get back in time for my wedding and Wilhelmina's wedding.

You'll know that she'll kill you if you're not there.

* * *

From: Creative_Director_Mode_MSJ:

To:EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re: last minute things for the DC trip.

You are too evil. Why is it OK for me to get married in our nation's capital but not in my own home town?

* * *

From: Byron at home

To: Monique at home

Subject: wedding present

Yes, I am still capable of doing research. You're going to love my research. I think I found the perfect wedding present for you. My wife will give it to you tomorrow when she meets you at your fiancé's restaurant.

* * *

From: Monique_Owens

To:Wanda _S

Subject: Wedding present from your future sister in law

Wanda - I am so looking forward to the wedding Tuesday morning. I know my big brother is so excited to become your husband after his little moment of stupidity last year. It's perfectly OK that you're having your wedding five days before mine. My friend Byron just gave me the most interesting wedding present. He gave it to me when I had lunch with his wife this afternoon. I'll tell you about it if you'll meet me for coffee at Gio's restaurant Friday. Call Mr. Weiner to set up a time.

Are you still planning on using Isabella to take care of your post retirement needs? There may be a little problem with that. Amanda's boyfriend's mom is interested in using Isabella herself. I'll tell you all about it at during coffee.

* * *

From: West, Brianna

To: EIC_Mode_MOR

Subject: Re: Are you okay?

Hey Monique, it's me. My assistant wasn't lying to you. I am in France because something big came up. I will tell you about the Alexis' situation when I get back next week. I'll be there in time for DC but just in case bring Amanda as a backup.

PS: Your wedding dress is not gray, it is silver.


	12. Kiss or Tell: Part one

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I'm sorry this chapter was delayed. Part of the reason will be revealed at the end of the chapter.

Many people were thrown off by the 'Monique Owens' thing in the last chapter. I know it's been about 70,000 words and six months but in the last section of Gossip Mode Style Monique pretends to be Connor sister to see him. In this chapter, we will start to see why she used a pseudonym to contact Wilhelmina. The meeting will happen in the next part.

Special thank you to marielinha for being my beta for this chapter. However, I find myself in need of a beta once more. Please let me know if anyone is interested.

**Warning: Sexual Situations**

**Chapter 10:** Kiss or Tell: Part one

* * *

It was 1:45 PM and Marc was trying to get everything together before he left the office for the long trek to DC by van. He was sending some last minute e-mails as he was waiting for Cliff to show up. Okay, maybe he was hiding from his boyfriend in his office, but he really did have to send out a few assignments for the next few days based on this morning staff meeting.

Last week Marc would have been absolutely terrified at the thought of spending nearly 5 hours in a car with his ex-boyfriend but he wasn't now. He was actually looking forward to it. Surprisingly, it was just as easy to talk to Cliff now, as it was when they were still together.

Last Thursday as the photo shoot was falling apart, they had conversations about hidden subtext in modern film as they were being stalked by Troy. Friday, after working with Cliff on post production aspects of the shoot, they had lunch at Cliff's favorite restaurant. He had so much fun talking about whatever. It was almost like they never broke up, except for the lack of kissing.

He was actually able to talk to Cliff about his fear of Matt taking his place in Amanda's life or life without Willy. He even talked to Cliff about his insecurities involving his new job. He just felt comfortable opening up to him.

Monique didn't know it, but Nikolai BCCed him when he sent his resignation. Instead of telling Amanda what happened over his monthly slice of pizza, that he rarely had anymore, he called Cliff. Cliff convinced him that he actually deserved this job even if he was absolutely terrified of running three simultaneous shoots in DC next week.

Also, to prove that he was interested in being Marc's friend, Cliff invited Marc to a Memorial Day brunch. He was actually having a lot of fun making fun of people's outfits before Troy showed up. Marc was not even sure how Troy found out, but he could bet that Monique had something to do with it.

Troy wasn't very happy about him being friends with Cliff. He essentially accused Marc of still having feelings for his ex-boyfriend during the middle of the brunch. Actually, Troy wasn't very happy about Marc being friends with Amanda either. For some unknown reason Troy was convinced that he and Amanda were fuck buddies.

Again, Marc personally blamed Monique for this. He remembered the mind games that she played with Matt last year. Although, Betty and Daniel were doing things that Matt should have been concerned about, for example, Daniel was checking Betty's ass out during every single staff meeting. He was sure that Monique was doing the exact same thing with Troy now.

It didn't help that Matt decided to play into whatever Troy believed and made some snide comment yesterday at work, about having a threesome later in the most sarcastic tone possible. Troy completely freaked out. He just doesn't get Matt sense of humor. That's a shame because Cliff probably would've been laughing his head off.

Today's lunch involved more of Troy's insecurities when Marc told him about spending the next four days in DC, alone with Cliff, before the first team arrived Monday. Marc would only be coming back late Monday for Wilhelmina's wedding before leaving Tuesday immediately afterwards for the DC invasion. If it wasn't for the fact that DC is less than a 3 hour train ride from New York, Marc would have never agree to do this. Wilhelmina was already upset that Marc wouldn't be around to help with the last minute wedding preparations this weekend but understood that his job came first. Okay, she understood after she threw something at him. She was even happy about his promotion. She let him order another bottle of expensive champagne on her credit card to celebrate when she gave him the metaphorical keys to her old office.

Because Marc knew Troy would throw a tantrum about the entire DC thing he waited to the last possible moment to tell him. That was a mistake. Never tell your current boyfriend that you're spending four days alone with your ex-boyfriend when there are clothes staining foods around. Pomegranate juice was difficult to get off of any fabric.

"I don't understand why I can't come with you. I can be such a great assistant." Troy said as they sat in the infamous Mode cafeteria earlier that day. Marc personally didn't want Troy to come but he knew better than to say that out loud. Troy would think that Marc just wanted to be alone with his ex. Nothing could be further from the truth. It would just make things more complicated if Troy was there. For some reason Cliff just did not like Troy. Maybe it had something to do with Troy giving Cliff the glare of death every time he was in proximity, but really that really wasn't important.

"It's not that I don't want you to come. I would love for you to be with me in DC, but you already have your own project with she who hates Amanda tomorrow. You're supposed to be working on the shoot outside of the Empire State building for the July business issue. Plus, you're on Megan's team for the DC shoot anyway."

Due to budget constraints and the fact that Monique wanted to essentially scrap everything Wilhelmina and Daniel did before they left, the Mode team was working on the July, August, and September issues simultaneously. They were actually going to be shooting for three different issues when in DC.

For the past few days Marc had been working late with Monique and Megan on content for the next three issues. Troy was not very happy about that either. The only good thing about that was Monique's fiancée would bring gourmet sandwiches over. Surprisingly the greasy one could make a healthy sandwich with only 5% fat content that was actually edible.

"I barely get to see you now that you're the new creative director. You canceled our last two dates." Troy started.

Marc almost felt like saying 'get used to it'. Wilhelmina missed most of her daughter's childhood and lost a husband because she practically lived at the office. At least Monique believed in family time and telecommuting.

"Actually I am the new junior creative director. I do almost the same job but I make less money and Monique and Claire have to approve everything."

"Yes, but if you wanted to you could have me come down to DC with you." Troy tried to negotiate.

"Theoretically yes, but I think it's better if you work with Megan."

That was the wrong thing to say. The conversation deteriorated from there into a shouting match where Troy essentially accused Marc of sleeping with his ex-boyfriend as he threw half a pomegranate at him.

The details of that encounter along with the photos were currently being distributed by the rumor mill as he sent one last assignment to his team from the safety of his his office. He needed an assistant to send these types of emails. He really needed to conduct some interviews with potential assistants when he got back.

He's actually happy that he'll have his own minion to do his dirty work and pick up his iced cappuccinos. Also, an assistant would be able to keep Monique out of his office right now. The first thing he was doing after Monique wedding was getting an assistant. Maybe a big one, with muscles.

"Did you come here to gloat?"Marc asked Monique in irritation when he saw her in his office.

"Why would I be here to gloat? I came to talk to you about additional prospects for the managing creative director position now that Nikolai has officially defected to Isabella. We didn't have time to discuss it after the staff meeting this morning"

"He went to Isabella? How do you know that?" Marc asked giving her a puzzled look.

"I have my sources. It doesn't really matter because I have a few of my old friends coming here anyway. We can talk about it later. It's not relevant right now. There are more important things to talk about."

"You mean my relationship with Troy?"

"Your relationship with Troy is anything but important. Everybody knows you don't love him. We have bigger problems. My source told me that someone else may be trying to buy Isabella as revenge against somebody associated with the Meade empire. I just don't know if they are targeting Wilhelmina or someone else. My source wouldn't say. I sent Wilhelmina a message using the emergency contact e-mail address that Connor gave me." That automatically worried Marc. That particular address was usually only employed in extreme emergencies or when direct communication could be used as evidence in a court of law.

"You used a new e-mail account right?"

"Of course, Marc I am not an idiot. The evil one received an email from Connor sister congratulating her on her upcoming wedding and asking her to meet for coffee tomorrow about 45 minutes ago. That reminds me I still have to buy a present. What do you get two people you absolutely hate?"

"You're Connors sister?" Marc asked in a panic. This information terrifies him and he starts to go for his inhaler as he feels his lungs constrict.

"Calm down and do your breathing exercises. As far as I know, I am not his sister. Although, my dad did sleep around a lot on business trips so who knows. I wouldn't be that surprised if I had a half sibling in Melbourne. Monique Owens is a cover I developed a long time ago. I used it a couple months ago when Wilhelmina was in the coma so they would let me see Connor to tell him about it in person. I needed to use something she would recognize."

"You had me worried there for a moment." Marc said as he put his inhaler back in his pocket.

"You need to be worried, although not to the point of having an asthma attack. If Wilhelmina calls you give her that address and don't ask too many questions. You need plausible deniability." Monique was out the door at that.

It was nice to have a boss who did not want him to end up in jail because of one of her crazy schemes. He didn't have time to think about it anymore because Cliff was standing in his doorway with a camera bag and one small suitcase.

"Are you ready to go?" Cliff called from the doorway.

"Yes." Marc said pointing to the three suitcases sitting in the corner of the office that used to be Wilhelmina's. There were still boxes everywhere because he was too busy working on the next three issues to actually unpack. He also had not had the time yet to pick out furniture. Again, he really needed an assistant.

"You realize we are only going to be in DC for a week, right?"

"Actually you're going to be there for a week and I'm coming back Monday for my pseudo-mommy's wedding and then I am taking the train back with the second team Tuesday afternoon. Although, I might just leave the luggage in your room if that's okay."

"That's fine. I would hate for you to have to carry three huge trunks back and forth to DC. You need to learn how to pack. I'm bringing one little tiny bag, a camera case and a laptop to load the photos on."

"Not all of us can pull off T-shirt chic the way you can."

"Oh how flattering." Cliff said sarcastically. "Can we please just get to the car? I would like to be out of the city before rush hour starts in less than 2 hours."

"You are always so worried. Everything will be fine. " Marc said grabbing the rental van keys off his desk but Cliff quickly grab the keys out of his hands.

"I'm driving. I don't trust you. My insurance didn't cover stupid boyfriend behavior last time. There's no way I'm letting you behind the will of any car even if it's not mine again." Cliff said as he grabbed one of Marc's suitcases and started going to the elevator.

"Do you have to keep bringing it up? There were extenuating circumstances." Such as going into an asthma/panic attack because Betty found the Tiffany wedding ring.

"I will bring it up whenever I feel like it. You completely wrecked my car and then you tell me that you only wanted to marry me because you cheated on me."

"You two broke up because you slept with someone else? You were engaged?" Marc heard Troy ask from behind him. His lungs started tightening up again at the sound of his voice. In the interest of avoiding a scene like the one in the cafeteria this afternoon Marc maneuvered Cliff, along with all their luggage, into the elevator without answering Troy's question.

"Avoiding your boyfriend already. Is there trouble in paradise? Oh wait, he's obsessed with you. Of course, there's trouble in paradise." Cliff said as the elevator doors closed.

"There's no such thing as paradise." Marc said as he laid his head on the side of the elevator and reached for his inhaler. He looked down to see his cell phone vibrating because Troy was already calling. That just made his breathing more erratic. As he took the first puff of his inhaler he had an ominous feeling that this was going to be a very long weekend.

* * *

Thursday June 3, 2010 8:57 p.m. Greenwich mean Time

Daniel was sitting inside the Mode closet watching his girlfriend try on outfits for her first TV appearance tomorrow to promote her new magazine. She was obviously nervous because she was actually obsessing over her appearance. He found this cute and scary at the same time.

DJ was down the hall in Daniel's office e-mailing his friends or doing whatever 15-year-olds do when they are ignoring everyone. Daniel was half-tempted to get one of the IT people to break into DJ's account so they could figure out what's going on with the quiet teenager. It had been over a week and they still did not know why DJ doesn't want to go back to France or his school. He and Betty finally broke down and told his mom what was happening a few days ago. Even she could not get DJ to talk.

Apparently, Alexis must have known that DJ was in London because Daniel's lawyer received temporary custody papers yesterday and arrangements were made for DJ to finish the rest of this semester via e-mail. Those messages only made Daniel more worried. He called Alexis 35 times since he heard from his lawyer yesterday alone. He tried not to think about that as he watched his girlfriend play dress up.

"Are you sure this is OK? I'm essentially borrowing an outfit from the Mode closet to promote a competing magazine." Betty said peeking out behind a rack of outfits wearing a cherry business suit from next month's featured designer that shows off her curves. For some odd reason he was imagining himself stripping that suit off of her after a very long day at the office in the town car.

"I don't think the readers of London Hub will overlap with the readers of Mode that much." He said as he was mentally unzipping the tight, in all the right ways, skirt that was a little bit shorter than what Betty normally wore.

"You know what I mean. I don't like this outfit. It's too tight and red." Betty said as she went back behind the rack and quickly threw the discarded jacket over to him. He didn't understand why she was hiding behind the rack when he has seen her naked more than once today. That was the forth outfit she had tried on so far and she'd hated everything. He had never seen her this self-conscious before. He didn't know whether to think it was cute or to be worried.

"You look good in anything and there's an entire website that proves that. It's fine for you to borrow something. It's a perk you get for dating the EIC of a fashion magazine. Your boss's assistant didn't call you until 25 minutes ago to let you know that you're going to be appearing on London Morning to promote your magazine tomorrow. It's almost 9 PM and most stores are closed or will be closed soon. I know you're not going to want to wear something that's already in your closet. Betty this is the only option." He said giving her another outfit.

"Trust me I get it. If it wasn't for you goofing off with DJ this weekend I may have made it to another store besides Dirty Little Secret and had something in my closet. I guess I should just be happy that because of Monique's new policy about 'human size' models their stuff in here that is actually my size." She says with a sigh grabbing the next outfit from him. This gave him the perfect view of her cleavage framed in black and red lace.

"You are the perfect size." He said with a happy smirk and a leer at her well endowed chest area.

"I'm talking about my entire body, not the part that you're currently staring at." She said as she started to put the dress on. "Do you remember that time I went clubbing with Christina and ran into you?"

"You mean the time I told you to leave me alone and I ended up needing you anyway because I got blackmailed? Did I mention how sorry I am for acting like a complete dick back then?"

"Yes, you have … several times. Anyway, before we went out, we raided the closet. The only thing that fit me back then were the shoes. Can you zip me up?" Betty said as she walked around the rack of dresses. She looked really good in the sleeveless dress that was very good to Betty's curves. Very, very good.

"You're taking this dress." He whispered as he gently work the zipper making sure that his fingers gently caress the flesh underneath.

"I don't think this is right for a morning TV show. It's too formal." She said moving to the mirror but not breaking contact.

"But it's absolutely perfect for tomorrow night when I take you out on a real date. I think the press has finally died down enough that we can go out in public without DJ as a diversionary tactic. Besides, you need something more formal for business dinners or maybe even the MAMA's next week. You still do not have a dress."

"And whose fault was it that I ended up spending 3 hours in a lingerie store? Maybe I should be happy that I don't have to buy something for Monique's wedding."

"You were not complaining when you found out you could get custom bras."

"Good point. I'm still not getting a $4000 dress, even if it looks really good. I may be an EIC now but I don't make anywhere near your salary. I actually make slightly less than I did before because you were overpaying me."

"No, you don't. First, you were doing the conversion wrong in your head. Also, I negotiated a higher salary for you in exchange for signing the release."

"You did what?" She asked in shock.

"I wasn't going to let you come to London to live on Ramen noodles. It doesn't matter anyway because I'm the one getting you the dress. As you just pointed out, I can afford it." Daniel said kissing her neck and collarbone.

"You just can't buy me everything. It's not the 1950s and I'm not a kept woman. I'm practically living in the house for free alre—." He cuts are off as he moves from her neck to her lips capturing them in a kiss that stopped her from speaking.

"Are you going to kiss me every time we argue?" Betty asked him with kiss swollen lips.

"Maybe. Is it working?" He said with a sheepish smile.

"No. I'm not getting the dress. At least not until I can afford something like this on my own."

"Fine, although you should still borrow one of the more upscale styles for the interview. I guess I'll go grab you some things from the sexy for less shoot next week for tomorrow." He said pouting.

"Thank you." She said as she lightly kissed.

"Although you're wearing whatever I pick out."

"As long as it's not something that requires me to wear a trench coat over it."

"I would never do that." She gave him her normal 'you're not fooling anyone' look. "However, my birthday is coming up in 47 days and I know how much you hate shopping. You can make it a lot easier on yourself if you just showed up to my office in a trench coat and maybe those high heels that Wilhelmina made you wear last year." Daniel said as he kissed her neck again.

"You are too much. Unzip me?" He did exactly as she asked although he had a bit of fun with it. She shivered a little as his fingers made contact with her now bare back. He quickly pulled the silky fabric down to her hips as his mouth started to make contact with the newly exposed skin.

"I just asked you to unzip the dress, not get me naked. There still people in the building even though it's late. DJ is here." That's been his girlfriend's excuse for the last week. They haven't done anything beyond mild kissing in eight days. Not that they were actually having sex before, but he was at least able to grab her backside and play with her breasts. Although it didn't seem like she was really protesting right now as he kept touching her.

"I locked the door and paid DJ 20 Euros or maybe it was Pounds to not interrupt us. Why do you think I am in here helping you instead of our closet goddess Nadia? Besides, it's the closet. Nobody is ever fully dressed in here." Daniel said as he pushed the dress down her hips and on to the ground as he quickly placed a kiss at the curve of her back. He was pleasantly surprised to see her wearing the matching black and red panties from the set he picked up for her this weekend.

"I still do not have a dress for tomorrow." Betty said as she stepped out of the dress. She moved to pick up the dress from the floor as Daniel maneuvers her to the couch where he was sitting earlier, all without his hands leaving her body.

"Go with the hunter green Brianna West-Hartley suit with the vintage lace camisole from DLS that you have at the house. Unlike most of the other designers, Brianna actually knows how to make things for short women with sexy curves." He said as he played with the black lace of her bikini cut underwear. No matter what he tried, she still refused to wear anything with less fabric.

"Not that I don't love your curves, but you look better in stuff that's designed for your body. I also suggest you pair it with the cream lace push up that gives you just the right amount of cleavage." Of course, when he says the word cleavage his mouth made contact with her neck as his right hand started to massage one of her nipples through the fabric.

"You have this all figured out, don't you?" Her voice was breathy as she said this. If she was really worried she would have stopped him by this point. Instead, she turned around to face him so she could undo his tie and help unbutton his shirt.

"It's one of the perks of having a boyfriend that actually understands women's fashion. I've never had a girlfriend I could play dress up with before." That wasn't completely true. There was Molly, but he didn't exactly help with the makeover process. Besides he was smart enough not to mention his first wife when his girlfriend was straddling him wearing nothing but a pair of almost see through panties and a black and red lace bra that would be off as soon as he unfastened it.

"I know you want to wear your B necklace," he said gently removing the necklace that meant so much to his girlfriend. Because it was so important to her he usually took it off before they did anything. He didn't want to accidentally ripped it off her in the moment. "I think you should wear the necklace I got you for your last birthday. It would go better with the outfit. You can keep your B necklace in your pocket so it'll be close to you."

"The one that you got from Macy's? I did not even think you knew where Macy's was. Actually, I didn't know Macy's had costume jewelry that nice. I love that necklace. It goes perfectly with the earrings your mom gave me two years ago."

"I never told you it was costume jewelry. Actually it's from Tiffany's but Monique suggested I put it in a Macy's box so you wouldn't freak out." He said pulling her into another heated kiss. She would definitely freak out if she found out he paid $22,000 for it.

"You got me a necklace from Tiffany's when we were still just friends?" She said pulling away momentarily only to change positions. "That is a Girlfriend present." Of course, Betty is saying this as she is removing his shirt and placing kisses down his chest.

"You're my girlfriend now. Otherwise you wouldn't be leaving teeth marks on my chest or letting me do this." He quickly unfastens the black piece of lace and tosses it to the other side of the closet. Just as he was about to place one of her nipples in his mouth, his cell phone started playing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

"Fuck, now she calls." He said with a groan of frustration as he backed away from Betty who was actually at that point starting to unbutton his pants.

"Why are you stopping?" She asked actually pulling him back. Apparently, she learned from last time.

"That is Alexis's ring tone." That is all he said as he grabbed the phone. She understood without further explanation. If anybody else was calling he would have let it go to voicemail. Actually, if it wasn't for the DJ thing he would let it go to voicemail. Okay, he was already half tempted to keep going but Betty was already up looking for her bra.

"You have excellent timing Alexis." He said sarcastically. "After over a week of avoiding me, you call when Betty's sitting on my lap 97% naked with your son safely paid off to not walk in on us." Daniel said with a lot of anger and severe discomfort.

"You actually picked up the phone?" Alexis asked in shock.

"I blame my good hearted girlfriend and the fact that your son is hiding in our townhouse without explanation. We would really like to know why he accidentally walked in on us in the kitchen last week. I'm going to put you on speaker so Betty can hear."

"I guess congratulations are in order. It's a shame that I found out from a newspaper headline last week. I wish you would have called me."

"I thought DJ would tell you. You could have called too." Betty was giving him the eyes of death, which meant she didn't believe that excuse at all. He could already tell that he wasn't getting any more from her tonight.

"DJ is not speaking to me right now, unless it involves asking for money or getting out of spending the next few months with his grandparents. I am going to be in the U.S. for business for a couple months and originally he was going to have to stay there." By the way Alexis was speaking Daniel was sure she wasn't telling him everything.

"He hates his grandparents. Why are you making him stay there? Why does he need to stay with the evil two? Why can't he come with you? Why can't he go to New York and stay with mom? She's practically adopting Amanda's new baby and Amanda for that matter. I think she misses you even though she has the Replacement Child." Daniel said referring to Tyler.

"I will try to stop by NYC in a couple of weeks. I know my son hates his grandparents, but I didn't have a choice until two weeks ago. You moving to London was a really good thing."

"Why is that?"

"To keep things from getting really ugly at the custody hearing, I had to make certain concessions. The custody agreement basically states that DJ may not live more than 1000 kilometers from his grandparents. That completely rules out mom unless she comes here, but now that she is president of the company I doubt she has time. It doesn't really matter unless you and Betty aren't available. Would you two be willing to let DJ stay with you this summer?"

They already had this conversation yesterday when the lawyer mentioned the temporary custody papers. He was not only surprised by the custody papers but by the fact that they were joint custody papers. Betty was actually the one who talked him into signing, before they even knew why. This surprised him because of the way Betty freaked out around Henry's kid in April and had a massive panic attack when she thought she was pregnant with Matt's child. However, maybe it shouldn't. DJ and Betty have always gotten along except when he was spraying her with silly string.

"Of course, Betty and I already signed the papers yesterday. I just would like to know the real reason why?"

"Stupid lawyer. He wasn't supposed to send anything until tomorrow." He heard Alexis mumble under her breath.

"Alexis, why does DJ need to stay with us? I don't believe that the 'this is for a job' excuse. I don't think DJ would be so freaked out if it was just that." This time Betty was the one that asked. "Are you okay?"

"You've always been very perceptive, Betty. There is something else going on. I'll tell you everything tomorrow night. I'll be flying to London instead of going home. I'm actually at the airport right now getting ready to leave. Sorry I didn't call earlier. The conference was so intense that I didn't have time to check my messages. I called DJ every night but he was not answering my phone calls. We'll go out to dinner tomorrow and I will explain everything afterwards. I'll be there around seven your time."

"You can't tell us now? DJ's been asking me questions about when my mom died." Betty said but Alexis was already off the line.

"She hung up on us. Why am I not surprised." He was about to continue with their earlier activities, but she was starting to get dressed again.

"So I guess we're not picking up where we left off?"

"I am just not in the mood right now. Your sister just signed over temporary custody of her son to us with some really strange excuse and not a lot of explanation. Also, did you notice that she just said she was at a conference?"

"What's so important about that?" He said as he begrudgingly handed Betty her top.

"Her assistant said she was at a retreat. Obviously she's lying. Add this to the fact that your nephew keeps asking me questions about when my mom was sick. Come to think of it, he also asked me questions about my dad's heart attack a few years ago. I'm just too worried to do anything. I'm sorry. Maybe later."

"It's okay. I'm worried too. I'm just the opposite of you. Sex is my normal coping mechanism for stress."

"So you still want to fool around because you're scared." She said giving him back his shirt.

"Pretty much."

"Why am I not surprised. Later." Betty said as she stood on her tiptoes to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"I thought you didn't want to do anything in the house?"

"We're going to have a teenager living with us for the next few months. I'll get used to it. He will probably be too busy listening to music and text messaging his friends to care." Betty said as he gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"I think this is why I love you."

* * *

Have you ever really loved somebody in a way that made no sense? Have you ever loved someone as a friend, a lover, and practically a member of the family simultaneously? Have you ever loved someone in a way that was all consuming and could never end no matter what they did to you? Even after nearly six years of not being in that person's life, you would be willing to sit with him or her in a tiny doctor's office at one of the best heart centers in the United States going over new treatment options.

Yet there she was at the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic sitting in one of the many waiting rooms with a sleeping baby Lexis on her lap as she listened to Alexis Sr. lie to her brother about what was going on. Maybe she should of left baby Lexis with the nanny or with Matt. This had to be hard on the little girl because it was hard on her. However, too many questions would have been asked and all things considered, her baby girl deserved the opportunity to see her other mother.

In between flights and doctor visits the two had been bonding. Maybe that was because four-year-olds are very forgiving. It could have also had something to do with the Alexis sponsored toy-shopping spree.

"You told him you were at the airport. Also did you have to be so cryptic? Now you know they're going to be even more worried." She said in a pseudo-whisper trying not to wake up the baby. The Cleveland Clinic is not exactly the most kid friendly place, even if she had videos for Lexis on her iPhone and new dolls to played with . After the past week, she could understand why her daughter was now a sleep on her lap.

"This is coming from the woman who's been dodging her friends and family since last Thursday. You don't have room to talk. It will be true in a couple of hours."

"I emailed Monique. She knows where I am and I told her I will tell her more when I get to DC next week. I'll call Matt later because he has enough to deal with already with his psychotic mom, Tyler, and the baby. There's a big difference. My situation isn't life threatening. You always hide things."

Of course, she didn't tell Monique that she was now in Cleveland instead of France. Last week's conversation with Alexis had been complicated. But then again any conversation that starts out with 'I may be dying' always is. The cause in this case was heart failure. Let's just say that Bradford left Alexis something other than the Meade empire or that stubborn as a mule personality.

"Again this is coming from the woman who hid the fact that I got her pregnant from the entire world. Some people are convinced you secretly adopted Lexis from somewhere in Africa despite her light complexion."

"I don't know why. She looks exactly like you but with slightly darker skin and naturally curly hair. What was I supposed to do Alexis? I thought you were dead. I was alone and my half brother was trying to convince me to terminate the pregnancy for the sake of my career. You and I had been together since the first grade. I have always loved you no matter how you looked on the outside. I kept all your other secrets. Why couldn't you trust me with that?"

"I wasn't planning on coming back. Wilhelmina convinced me that revenge could be best accomplished if I returned."

"Yet you didn't call me even after I made every effort to get in contact with you. You're the one who ignored me for four years." This wasn't exactly the right time or place to have this conversation. They've been putting off this conversation all week. You don't exactly want to have a screaming match with somebody who's in the third stage of heart failure.

"I thought you had moved on. I had no idea that Lexis was my daughter until I heard a voice mail from Amanda asking me if I knocked up her boyfriend's auntie five and a half years ago." She wasn't that surprise by how Alexis found out considering the way Matt found out that Amanda was pregnant. She blames herself.

"I should've moved on. I couldn't. You did not even remember me when you had amnesia. Instead, for the last week I have been wandering around Europe and the United States visiting cardiologists as I've tried to manage my company via BlackBerry and iPad. Why couldn't the doctors discover the dilated cardiomyopathy when you were in the coma?" She said under her breath.

"They were a little preoccupied keeping me from dying at the time. Also, dad wasn't exactly forthcoming with his health problems. Family history is a major part in diagnosis."

"Keeping your mouth shut is also a family trait apparently. DJ probably ran away to Daniel's house because you kept being sick from him for almost two years. That's almost the entire time you have known him. I assume he's a smart kid from what you told me. I'm sure he knows."

"As for the amnesia, I blocked out everything related to getting gender reassignment surgery. That meant I didn't remember you because you were with me during doctor shopping and you taught me how to put on makeup. You're the only one who really knew me." You knew the situation was bad when Alexis changed the subject to that particular topic.

"What is it with you and doctor shopping. You must have dragged me around this country and several others to over 15 different doctors to find the best to do the surgery. You are doing the exact same thing now. I'm sure they have good cardiologists in France. The guy we spoke with on Monday seemed to know what he was talking about."

"I already have a good cardiologist in France. I'm not responding to the drug treatment. The thing with the alcohol didn't work either. You heard what the doctors here said this morning. It's time for a surgical option."

"Yes, it sound exactly like what the cardiologist said Monday in France and yesterday in New York." They snuck back into New York Tuesday night without anybody knowing she was back in town. She didn't stay at her apartment just in case someone stopped by. By Wednesday afternoon they were on another plane to Cleveland to get a third opinion. At least the doctors in Cleveland presented more surgical options.

"This is one of the best places in the world for cardiac care. I don't want to be my father. Sometimes I wonder if he even fought to stay with us. He knew he was sick and he didn't tell us. I want to see DJ graduate."

"What about your daughter?" She never got to hear Alexis's answer because they were called back to see the doctor again.

* * *

Cliff was about 30 seconds from throwing Marc's cell phone out the window. Since they left Manhattan 4 hours ago, Troy has been calling every 10 minutes. He was shocked that Marc was putting up with that type of behavior.

"Seriously, did you have to choose a song by Justin Pieper as your ring tone for your boyfriend? I should have used this trip to introduce you to grown-up music." He said under his breath in annoyance.

"I think his last name is Bieber. I can't stand it either."

"Then why is it on your phone? That's even worse than the N*Sync ringtones used to have."

"Like Green Day is any better. N*Sync is classic. Troy must have programmed it in along with his smiling picture. You can't say anything because you have BSB songs on your iPod." The only song he had on his iPod from their catalog was Treat me Right and that was because Monique added it a long time ago.

"It was one song and it reminded me of you. Why are you with Troy?" He didn't need to ask the question but he did anyway. It just came out.

"I love Troy." Cliff laughed at that.

"No you don't. I know you Marc and I know what you're like when you're in love. At the very least, I thought I did. The fact that you're letting all of Troy's calls go to voicemail makes it really obvious."

"I'm just not answering his phone calls because we are discussing work related things." Marc said in his defense.

"Ten minutes ago we were discussing if Spike could kick Edward's ass in a one on one match. Can you even carry on a conversation with Troy? You and Troy have absolutely nothing to talk about. The only things you two have in common are that you work for the same company and prefer sex with men."

"Do we really need to have anything else in common?"

"I don't know, you tell me. I watched you two interact with each other. It was like watching my parents at my graduation two months after their divorce."

"That's not true. Troy and I talk about all sorts of things." Marc said in a way that told him he was obviously lying. He just wasn't sure who he was lying to.

"Like what?"

"The meaning of life." Marc said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

"Nice try. Honestly why are you with Troy?" He said taking a moment to look at Marc.

"If I said it was only because he is hot, would you believe me?"

"Not at all. If that was your only requirement for a perspective boyfriend we would have never dated. I know you care about things besides appearance."

"You do remember I tried to hide the fact that we were dating from all my friends?" Unfortunately, he did remember that incident.

"Yes, but you never left me on your doorstep overnight. Thank god, you live in Chelsea. That poor boy would have been dead in certain other neighborhoods." Cliff said remembering everything Amanda told him.

"You heard about that?"

"The entire building heard about that. Monique told me after Amanda told me. It made me feel a lot better about the fact you cheated on me. Now I know that it was nothing personal. You just sabotaged every relationship." It was a low blow, but Marc deserved it.

"Did you ever think that maybe that is why I am staying with him. Maybe I'm tired of every single one of my relationships falling apart because I ran away the moment things got serious. I don't want to be alone."

"That's good if it's for the right person. But you should not stay with someone you don't love just because you're afraid of being by yourself." Marc didn't respond because his phone started playing Diva By Beyoncé.

"Hey Willie. Long time no call. We're on our way to prepare for the DC shoot. I have to go because Nikolai had a hissy fit and quit via iPhone Tuesday. It turns out he is already at Isabella. That traitor! Not that there is anything wrong with someone going to Isabella. You won't believe it, the super budget conscious Monique is making us stay in Arlington." Marc said into the phone almost looking happy except when he talked about the hotel.

"I don't know why you're complaining. It's still the Ritz Carlton. It's not like it is the American Hotel that was featured in State of Play." Cliff said to himself.

"It's a Ritz Carlton located in Arlington on top of a shopping mall." Marc argued back.

"It's a Fashion Center."

"If it has a Gap, it's a mall. Sorry Willie, I got distracted. I don't know why she sent the e-mail except that something's going on with Isabella. Apparently, someone wants to use it for revenge against someone else. I will text message you the coordinates." Cliff kept his mouth shut as he continued driving. As long as Marc was on the phone, he wasn't avoiding calls from Troy or even worse actually talking to Troy. Cliff tried not to think about why he really didn't like Marc's current boyfriend. It really had nothing to do with the fact that maybe he still loved Marc.

A/N: Most of the medical data in this chapter comes from the Cleveland Clinic website.

I know some are probably surprised Alexis is dealing with heart failure instead of cancer after the buildup in the last chapter. The truth is I was originally planning on Alexis having a brain tumor or breast cancer. Yes, it is possible for a biological male to have breast cancer. A few weeks ago, I found out that my uncle was diagnosed with breast cancer and unfortunately it has metastasized. On a positive note, he is responding to treatment. I just didn't feel comfortable doing that particular story line any more. It took some time for me to figure out how to rework the plot.

Although it is much less common in men, close to 2000 new cases of breast cancer are discovered in men in the U.S. every year. This is in addition to 208,000 new cases found in women in the United States alone every year.


	13. Kiss or Tell: Part two

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I'm going to try to do updates more often. So please provide encouragement for me to sit down and actually work on this story.

**Warning:** Sexual situations and a crazy summary of Betty's past sexual experiences with a bit of bashing involved.

Teddy Bear, who normally works on my Star Trek stories, graciously look this over. All remaining mistakes are mine.

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Kiss or Tell: Part two

June 4, 2010 6:23 AM Greenwich mean time

Betty sat in the limo between her boyfriend and his nephew drinking her second coffee of the morning. She's pretty sure she only got three hours of sleep last night. She blames her boyfriend for that. It was after 11 when they finally got back to the town house after stopping off for a late bite to eat.

Daniel thought it was best to tell DJ about Alexis coming to London on Friday in a public place. That really didn't prevent a scene. Apparently, DJ already knew because Alexis left him a voice mail. It was obvious that DJ wasn't looking forward to spending time with his mom but he wouldn't talk about it.

The only thing that made the 15 year old happy was finding out that he would be spending the summer with her and Daniel instead of being shipped back for quality time with his grandparents. DJ really did not like his grandparents at all.

He wasn't completely happy with the fact that he would be an intern at London Hub instead of Mode either. Following in his uncle's footsteps, DJ has a slight fixation on the models. After an incident involving DJ being kicked out of a photo shoot by Diane, she and Daniel decided that DJ would be spending the summer as Betty's intern. At least this way she would have somebody to tell her what's going on when her staff starts talking about her behind her back in French.

Betty was hoping to get at least a good five hours asleep as soon as she could fall into her bed wearing her bright blue sweat pants and matching tank top. Instead, Daniel decided to show her what was so good about oral sex. It amazed her that even after three other major boyfriends there were still certain aspects of sex that she was completely ignorant of.

Walter was a crappie boyfriend and a crappie lover. At the time, she didn't think she deserved anything better. He was the first person to pay her any attention despite the fact she had horrible teeth and crazy hair. Since he was the first guy she did anything sexual with, she was completely unaware of how bad things were. He was always done after five minutes leaving her unsatisfied or worse he would demand oral stimulation without reciprocation.

Things were better with Henry. First, she actually loved him at the time. Second, he actually cared about her needs more than Walter ever did. However, he was not into eating ice cream off her stomach or actually finding more interesting uses for those scarves Amanda got her for Kwanzaa. She may be what Marc refers to as a goody goody in the fashion world, but when it came to sex, she was starting to discover she was not a missionary kind of girl.

Because her heart was still damaged from Henry, things with Gio never progressed beyond very heavy kissing. At least that was what she believed at the time. The truth was Betty was already starting to have feelings for Daniel. Gio knew before she did. She blames Renee for putting the idea in her head.

She told herself she was holding out for Rome but Rome never came. At the time, she told herself that she was choosing herself over Henry and Gio. The truth was she chose Daniel.

She couldn't go to Arizona to be Henry's wife because that would mean leaving Daniel behind in addition to her dream career. She couldn't go to Rome because deep down, she knew that Gio wasn't the one. Betty now knows she was meant to explore the world with Daniel by her side.

She was right. It was she and Daniel against London. She loved it. Daniel left New York so she could follow her dream even though she didn't ask him to leave everything for her.

Physically things were better with Matt. Although due to recent extremely uncomfortable conversations with Amanda, Betty is very aware that Matt was holding back because he knew that she didn't have a lot of experience.

Despite that, the sex was good even if they stuck to the basics. No oral sex, no toys, and they never did anything that didn't involve a bed. Also after the ice cream incident with Henry, she was reluctant to ask for more.

Emotionally, things were screwed up. Matt was the rebound or maybe he was the transition guy. She really didn't know any more. Judging by their e-mail argument last week, he was aware of that.

When she started dating Matt, she was still getting over Henry. A part of her was still delusional and holding onto a 'happily ever after' that wasn't real. It wasn't until recently she realize she was more in love with who she thought Henry was then the real person.

By the real end of her relationship with Matt, she was completely in love with Daniel even if she was lying to herself about it. Betty was well aware that the second time she was with Matt she was using him as a Daniel substitute. Maybe she was doing it the entire time. That wasn't fair to Matt.

On the surface Daniel and Matt were a lot alike. They both grew up as the rich kids with father's that ignore them and mothers who had their own issues. They both had a player reputation and were both trying to reform. They even looked a little alike. They shared a half brother. As much as she tried to delude herself, Matt was not Daniel and she didn't love Matt.

Matt knew she was in love with Daniel before she did. Actually everybody knew she was in love with Daniel before she was willing to admit it to herself except for maybe Henry. Because of that, the passion obviously wasn't there with Matt and he knew it. During the last two weeks of their relationship, Betty had to concentrate on not screaming Daniel's name when she and Matt were 'together'.

With Daniel, things were different. After getting over the initial awkwardness of doing sexual things with her best friend, she felt comfortable trying new things with him. Every time he kisses her, she becomes lost. If she wasn't so worried about the entire Alexis situation Last Night, things probably would have escalated in the closet.

Last night she doesn't even know why she bothered changing into sleep clothes. She walked out of the bathroom to find a completely naked Daniel waiting for her with his little Daniel halfway at attention. Really, this shouldn't surprise her. This is Daniel Meade. She's personally shocked they've gone 14 days without having sex. Actually, she was more shocked he wanted to wait awhile.

Before she even had time to appreciate the view, she found herself perched on top of the dresser, as her favorite tank top was becoming her new favorite cleaning rag. Daniel enjoys destroying her things a little too much.

"Daniel I have to be up at 5:00 AM to get ready for the interview. It's after 11 now." This probably would have worked better if she wasn't moaning as Daniel started sucking on her collarbone. He left a giant hickey there that is currently being covered by her jacket.

"You said we could continue later. It's later." He kissed her so hard that her head made contact with the wall. She could feel him hard against her still covered thigh as they continued kissing.

"When I said later, I meant tomorrow night after we deal with Alexis. I need sleep." She finally said after she forced herself to break the kiss. Again, this argument would have been more effective if she didn't arch into him as he started sucking on her right nipple. Daniel has always been good talking her into doing things that she normally would not do. Now he had sex as a weapon.

"DJ is currently asleep and you are very wide awake." He mumbled against her breast. "You're so wired right now I doubt you'll be able to sleep for hours unless I help. I promise to make it really good."

He was right. If she didn't let things continued she would be tossing and turning all night, especially with him lying beside her, rubbing against her. This was his fault. She was so getting back at him. At that instant, she decided two could play this game.

"Whose fault is that?" She asked as she tentatively wrapped a hand around the part of his anatomy that was poking into her thigh. Touching him like this didn't scare her as much as it did two weeks ago. She was getting used to seeing Daniel as her lover and not just her friend. Her touch was rewarded with a very breathy moan and several expletives that she enjoyed. She liked having that type of power over him.

"I am just returning the favor. You always make me that hard without your hand wrapped around me like it is now. Lift up." She did as he said immediately feeling the cold air making contact with her lower body. She was surprised he was able to take off her pants as she continued touching him.

"No panties. You're catching on." He said with a very wicked smirk. The comment made her mad and she let go of him. In retaliation, she felt herself moved from the dresser to their bed. Daniel was now on top of her as he had her pinned to the bed. He was now running his tongue against her navel as is right hand started to massage her left breast.

"They are uncomfortable and they always bunch in the middle of the night." Betty said defensively. There is no way she was letting Daniel assumed that her lack of underwear was for his benefit.

"You do not have to defend yourself with me. Whatever we do together is between us. I think it's hot that you're not wearing any panties. That makes this next part a lot easier." She was slightly upset when Daniel pulled away from her stomach until she his felt hot mouth make contact with her very wet center.

"Fuck." The word was out of her mouth without thinking as she felt him suck on a very sensitive part of her anatomy sending pleasure through her entire body. She has never cursed during sex before and this was not even sex sex. She was never telling him this. Daniel's ego was too big already.

"I knew I could get you to curse." Daniel said smugly as he stopped worshiping her with his very talented mouth.

"Stop talking. Just keep going. Please Daniel." This is also the first time she remembers begging during any sexual act. She did a lot of begging last night. Daniel has always been good at listening to her. That is when she felt his mouth return and two of his fingers entered her.

At 26, she finally understood what all those girls were talking about in the girls' locker room as they were laughing at her granny panties. She also experienced the legendary double orgasm. Finely, she discovered why everybody would giggle whenever the number 69 was mentioned later on in the night.

She hated performing oral sex on Walter so much that she told herself she would never do it again. With Walter it felt demeaning and dirty. Then again, nothing about that relationship was very equal. With Daniel, it was different. She enjoyed the power she had over him. She enjoyed every scream and yell. She enjoyed him becoming completely incoherent. She just loved him.

"Baby, are you coming?" She heard Daniel say bringing her out of the memories of the night before. They were back in the limo in front of the back door of the studio. DJ must already be inside because she didn't see him.

"What did you say?" She asked just as she was coming back to her senses.

"I said are you coming inside. We are here at the studio. Are you okay? Are you still worried about today? You will do great. You have dealt with Suzuki St Pierre before; you'll be fine with the British equivalent of Matt Lauer and his happy sidekick."

"I'm not worried. I'm fine. My mind just went somewhere else." She said giving Daniel of tiny little kiss not really caring if the press was around.

Most people were already sure that she and Daniel were more than friends before they actually started dating anyway and Suzuki's article last week. They were not exactly denying that they were a couple, but they were not really confirming it either. As everything else in her life she just decided to let people assume whatever they wanted. It was her life and she was entitled to privacy.

"Judging by the red blush that I find so adorable, I say that you're thinking about all the wonderful things we did last night. I'm looking forward to a repeat tonight." He said giving her another kiss that was slightly inappropriate for being in public.

"Unfortunately, we have to deal with your sister first. How can you be so cheery after just three hours of asleep?" she asked giving him another quick kiss.

"I think it's you. Your normal bounciness is rubbing off on me. Although we could probably test out the locks in my office if you want to come over for lunch." There was that evil smirk from last night again.

"I think I have a meeting that I have to attend. I hate you. I probably have bags under my eyes." She said jokingly.

"You only hate me because you love me and my tongue. At lease, you are not nervous anymore. You are the most beautiful woman in the world. Besides, you are still glowing from the six orgasms last night. It's covering up the sleep deprivation. When did you start caring about your appearance?"

"I care about looking professional, not pretty. Showing up to an interview sleep deprived is not professional. I hope you're right and nobody notices." She said with a sigh as Daniel pulled her out of the car.

"Trust me; I used to do this all the time. Now let's go inside so we can introduce England to the very talented Betty Suarez." Daniel said as he pulled her into the building.

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Daniel should have known this was going to happen. He has spent his entire life in front of the press. Daniel knew firsthand how a simple interview could become disastrous. The Sophie incident still stands out in his mind. He doesn't know how many times he has gone on television to talk about the latest issue of mode when the conversation instantly turned to his private life. Actually, that usually happened.

Really, they should've both known this was going to happen. This was Betty's first interview since their relationship went public last week sort of. No one has really confirmed or denied that he and Betty were a couple. It was only natural that people would be curious.

They didn't prepare for this. Last night after a very uncomfortable conversation with DJ, Betty prepared for questions about her new magazine and the content of the first issue. She didn't prepare for questions about how they got together or if he preferred boxers or briefs.

The interview started out innocently enough with Lindsey introducing Betty to the two hosts of the show. He spent a few minutes talking about the upcoming Wedding issue of London Style and made a few jokes about the trouble at Mode UK.

David Pratt has been generating all sorts of negative press for Mode since he was fired last week. The speculation about his relationship with Betty and his sudden relocation to London has at least kept people from paying attention to David trashing his former magazine to some degree.

At least he and Betty talked about how to handle Mode questions and the David situation last night. They both agreed that she would stay quiet on the matter because it was in her best interest to stay neutral regarding the London fashion magazine wars. As much as he loved her and wanted her support publicly, he knew that for the sake of her career she could not take sides.

Then the male host named Kevin asked Betty if she knew for sure that he was the brand new EIC of Mode London. That's how a simple interview about _London Hub_ started to spiral out of control.

"I can't answer that question. We'll all have to wait to the next issue comes out on the 17th." Betty answered calmly taking a small drink of her water.

"You obviously know the answer to that question since you were snogging him behind the building with his hand stroking your bomb." The blond woman named Karen said with a thick accent that he could barely understand. Daniel wondered if she was doing it on purpose. Most newscasters neutralize their voice so that they can be understood by everyone. As she said this, Daniel actually saw an image of Betty and him making out from earlier on the screen.

Wait, what does snogging mean? Is that the same as shagging? He really should have paid more attention to Candy's guide to British slang.

"I am a very private person and so is Daniel. I am here to talk about the first issue of London Hub that comes out next month, not my relationship with Daniel Meade." Betty said pointing to the screen. "I thought I was done talking about Daniel Meade's personal life when I stopped being his assistant." Betty said calmly taking the high road as she avoided looking at the image of the two of them being very intimate.

The two talk show hosts did not like that and went for blood. That's when the perky British lady started asking Betty questions about how she went from being Daniel's assistant a year ago two being the EIC of a brand new magazine.

Daniel was planning on killing Marc next Friday when he was in New York for posting about the coin toss thing on the Internet. Questions about that particular incident were asked as invasively as possible with lots of sexual innuendos.

Ms. British Mary sunshine also brought up the blog incident from February including the speculation. Betty handled all of their questions with her normal grace as they started accusing her of getting ahead because of their personal relationship.

They even brought up Molly and the fact that Daniel was apparently in a serious relationship less than a year after her death. If Daniel was reading between their words correctly, they were essentially saying that he was sleeping with Betty when Molly was dying.

Daniel should be used to hearing these types of comments. Nothing being said was anything worse than what he has heard Megan say a thousand times. Of course, Megan never said such things on live morning television or accused him of cheating on his then dying wife. At least she had the decency not to do it in front of him.

"Personally I would like to know how someone like you with such 'humble' beginnings became involved with a notorious American playboy. His antics are legendary here. I heard his father actually hired you so his son wouldn't sleep with the help. I guess that didn't work." Kevin mumbled that last part under his breath. To make the situation even worse they actually posted a photograph from the Betty bad outfit web site on the screen for the entire viewing public to see. Daniel was ready to kill somebody but Betty stayed calm.

"Daniel Meade has never been the person that everybody assumes him to be. He's smart, funny, and actually cares about things other than what's in season. Since I met him four years ago, he has become one of the most important individuals in my life. He has always been there for me. He is my best friend. We have always had a very close relationship."

"This is why there's been speculation about your relationship for years. It's gotten worse in the last two weeks especially in light of a segment on America's Fashioned TV. You are obviously more than friends. He moved to London to be with you. There are even pictures this weekend of you and Daniel walking out of a lingerie boutique together. Again there is that photograph from earlier this morning. He is standing offstage watching this entire interview. You can't honestly expect anyone to believe that you two are just friends?" She said as the photograph of the two kissing popped up on screen again.

That's when Daniel saw the camera swing around and focuses on him. He decided the best thing to do was to just waved at the camera.

"Since you are here Daniel, you might as well tell us if you're the new EIC of Mode UK. Can somebody get a mic on him?" The annoying woman said to one of the producers. Before Daniel knew what was happening, he was sitting on the couch next to Betty.

"Honestly Karen, I'm just here to help straighten things out at Mode UK after the last EIC left suddenly due to personal medical issues." He said going into the cover that he and Monique came up. "I do own half the parent company and I feel that Mode U.S. is in the capable hands of Monique Osborn-Rossi." He said giving Karen his award winning smile

"So you're not just here so you can keep shagging Miss Suarez?" That question just pissed him off but he was stopped by Betty's hand before he could say anything stupid. Unfortunately, Betty's gesture gave them away without saying a word more than that photograph from this morning ever could. The gesture was more intimate than any kiss could have been.

"The truth of the matter is we are in a relationship." Daniel answered because there was no point of really denying it anymore. Things calmed down after that and Karen started actually asking Betty questions about _London Hub_.

He was completely unaware that he kept holding Betty's hand the entire time. Again, that is why they couldn't be ambiguous anymore.

Then just as they were about to go into commercial the other host Kevin said something utterly idiotic thinking that they were already in break. Considering he used an expletive that had to be the case or he was completely unaware that his microphone was still on.

"She must be a good fuck for him to be with such a homely girl."

Honestly, Daniel doesn't remember walking over to the man. He doesn't remember throwing a punch. He does not remember DJ saying he was acting like an idiot in French or security pulling him back. The first thing he remembers was seeing the extremely disappointed look on Betty's face.

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"Daniel, what the hell were you thinking? At lease when you hit Matt last year, there weren't any video cameras around." Candy asked as soon as Daniel walked through the door of the Mode offices. Betty probably would ask him the same question if she had time before Lindsey's assistant pushed Betty and DJ into a town car. DJ, who is functioning as Betty's intern this summer because Daniel doesn't trust anyone who can run away to another country, text message him from the car to let him know that Betty was very angry.

"Candy I don't know what I was thinking. I don't even remember doing it." Daniel said in his defense. He was too angry to really think at the time anyway.

"Let me refresh your memory." Candy said as she handed him an iPhone playing the clip.

"It's been an hour and it has already gone viral. Miss Mary sunshine of London already posted a comment on twitter about the incident." The thing Daniel likes best about Candy is they have the same sense of humor and the ability to never remember names.

"Has Monique called yet?" Daniel asked with a sigh as he made his way to his desk. He knew she would be mad at him.

"No, but that's only because it's 2:56 AM in New York. I expect a phone call around 6:00 AM her time." Just then, Sumreen walked into the office holding her phone.

"My daughter just sent me a video file of you punching out that pratt from London Morning. Good for you. The whole interview was a setup. Someone probably gave the dimwitted duo everything because they are too stupid to do their own research. Everyone hates that imbecile." She said somewhat happy. At least someone on his staff supported him.

"Oh god. How bad is it?" Daniel said as he sat down at his desk and put his head down.

"Actually, it is not really that bad. Although that was not exactly the way we wanted to introduce the brand new EIC of mode UK to the British people. Many people thought what they were doing to Betty was really mean, other people well just like to hate on everything. As Sumreen said he's not very well liked." Candy said with reassurance. The only reassurance Daniel wanted was from Betty. However, he was too scared to call her right now

"I think it's perfect. Daniel is so in love with his girlfriend that he punched someone out. Any publicity is good publicity. They love you on twitter and on the blogs." Diana said as she joined the conversation.

"Legal repercussions?" Daniel asked. Usually it was his Mother or Betty that handled things when he did something stupid. Now he was on his own.

"Kevin is in serious trouble. Apparently, you can't say fuck before 8:00 AM on broadcast British television." Candy answered him with a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"I have an ex girlfriend that works at the studio. He's most likely going to be suspended without pay for about two weeks." Diane said sitting down on one of Daniels couches.

"I meant me."

"According to the same source the network is putting pressure on him not to press charges. Don't be surprised if the network calls you in a couple of hours. They're going to probably use this as leverage to get an exclusive." Diane was probably right.

"I'll talk to the lawyers anyway." Candy said just as her phone began to ring.

"Hello Mode Magazine, Daniel Meade's office. This is Candace Rivera speaking. How may I assist you?" Candy answered the phone using her real name. "Yes, he's here Mrs. Meade. Yes, he already knows what he did was extremely stupid. Although in his defense, you should have seen the first part of the interview. I'm planning on calling the lawyers. Personally, I think we should sue the network for what they did to her. Can we sue for defamation of character in England? They basically implied that Betty only got ahead at Mode because she was sleeping with Daniel, even when Daniel was married to Molly." There was a pause for a moment before Candy continued.

"They called you. I guess that makes sense since it is just barely 3:00 AM in New York. I'll talk to the network to see if we can work something out. Let me transfer you to Daniel's phone." Candy said pulling the phone down.

"That was your mother. She's not very happy. I'm going to see if I can get her a clip of the full interview so she will calm down. The lawyers called her. Apparently Cindy from legal watches the show every morning in the office." Just then, Daniel heard his phone ringing. He knew it was his mother.

"Hi mom," Daniel said to his mother as he mentally prepared for the most interesting lecture of his entire life. He was completely screwed.

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To be Continued.

I meant to get to Wilhelmina and Monique in this chapter, but things just got out of hand. In the interest of updating faster, I didn't want to do another 8000 word chapter. I will try to get the next chapter up soon.

Also, does anybody remember the name of Molly's friend that Daniel was introduced to during the baseball game in season three? I was laughing so hard during that scene I did not pay attention to details.


	14. Trouble in Mode Paradise: Part one

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

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Trouble in Mode Paradise: Part one

After being woken up by the London legal team a little after 2:00 AM this morning and a very long conversation with her middle child about appropriate interview decorum there was no point in her going back to sleep. She would have to get up less than an hour later to get ready to pick up Tyler with Matt and Amanda.

Tyler was coming home for good after his extensive stay in rehab after the Wilhelmina incident. That alone would make Claire happy except he didn't want to stay with her. Their relationship was still tenuous at best due to her lying about his father. Tyler would be staying with Matt in his tiny apartment in Chelsea until his aunt Brianna returned from wherever the hell she was hiding.

The Brianna situation involving Claire's possible new grandchild was another thing to lose sleep about. The recluse designer has been incommunicado for almost a week except for a few e-mails to Tyler. Claire really didn't know where to start with that situation. Up until last week, she believed Alexis and Brianna were just really good friends up until the accident. She knew better now.

After getting dressed and pouring herself a much needed cup of coffee, she called Monique to discuss the Daniel situation. After the wonderful job Monique did on the Wilhelmina shooting incident, she knew the _Mode_ EIC would be the one most qualified to fix this.

Monique was not surprised at all by her early morning phone call. The new EIC was up most of the night dealing with a teenager who kept throwing up and was awake when her former assistant Candy sent her the information pack containing an unedited version of the entire interview. Monique was already well briefed on the situation before Claire said a word. What did shock Claire was the Mode EIC's reaction or rather her lack of reaction.

"Honestly, something like this was bound to happen." Monique said nonchalantly before continuing. "In less than a week it will be one year since Molly died. Even though he is with Betty, I know this is going to be a difficult time for Daniel. You know this from personal experience. I was expecting something much worse than punching the British dick. I actually slept with a boy band member during my one-year anniversary breakdown. Then at a few weeks later at fashion week I got arrested for punching Wilhelmina."

"That's one of the best things on your resume. I suggested that Bradford offer you a job for that reason alone." She said laughing to herself.

"My mother didn't see it that way when she had to bail me out of jail with Molly. This is manageable. After watching the nasty things that guy said about Betty and Molly, I wanted to punch him." She could see that the editor did have a point. Claire remembered pushing Wilhelmina into Bradford's grave at his funeral.

"I hope Daniel had moved on from such violent outbursts. I thought we were through with this sort of thing after the incident with the Community of the Phoenix. We should all be happy that Matt didn't press charges after that particular indiscretion at the U.N. That had the potential to be worse than the Airport incident." Claire mumbled under her breath remembering the incident at LaGuardia from when Daniel returned from Tibet and the thing that managed to get Meade publishing banned from the U.N. for life. She was still trying to smooth things over with the TSA and the U.N.

"The U.N. incident is still causing problems almost a year later. That thing almost prevented us from getting the State Department next week because it was the talk of UNGA 2009. I had to promise that Daniel would be nowhere near DC and I had to bring up the fact that we had video footage of a certain foreign affairs officer doing inappropriate things with Daniel on a copy machine. I heard that person's next assignment is somewhere in Iraq." Monique actually laughed as she said this last part. Claire was just happy that Monique was working with her and not against her.

"I assumed that now Daniel was with Betty and living in London on his own, I wouldn't have to be constantly cleaning up his messes." She said voicing her inner thoughts aloud.

"You're not. Daniel punched the idiot out on British television and Daniel with the rest of the London team will handle the fallout. I have a sick child, a wedding that is starting to fall apart, finalizing my ownership of Meade, and three photo shoots to deal with in the next 10 days. I do not have time to baby sit someone who doesn't need a babysitter and neither do you. I have full faith that Daniel can deal with this himself. You need to focus on Tyler today. Daniel is a grown up now." This thought did not comfort her.

"Yes a grownup who hit someone on national television." Claire voiced her doubts.

"On the bright side Daniel did punch someone, who according to twitter, deserved to get his ass kicked. Daniel went to London to be his own person. He went there to find out if he could run _Mode_ UK without you, Wilhelmina, or Betty holding his hand. It's time to let go." Claire would mention something about Monique's constant coddling of Amanda but chose not to for the sake of civility and not being labeled a hypocrite.

"I seriously doubt that Wilhelmina did any handholding. She took every opportunity to sabotage Daniel." Claire said with a snide and bitter laugh.

"Wilhelmina would not have even bothered to sabotage Daniel if he was not a threat. Damien was so under qualified for his job; I did not need to do anything to make him look bad. He did it all on his own. Wilhelmina had to deliberately tried to make Daniel look like a fool. Daniel has real potential and I believe he can do good things in London without you and me coming to the rescue. Daniel needs to deal with this on his own. If things get bad, we intervene but according to Candy, things are under control. They're already working on damage control. When you called Daniel to cuss out your baby boy they were already discussing how to fix it." She knew nothing about that. She was too busy actually yelling at Daniel to find out how he was going to make the situation go away. She did not even know the entire story until she watched the video clip that Candy sent her. She felt foolish as she watched the entire thing.

"He is my son. I'm going to worry." She said stating the obvious.

"Trust me I get it. I just spent the entire night with my 15-year-old even though I had to get up way too early this morning for a business meeting my favorite fashion vampire. Just focus on Tyler right now. If there's anything that develops because of the London situation that will affect U.S. interests I'll take care of it, otherwise let's just let London deal with it." Monique said reassuring her.

"You're right." Claire acquiesced. Monique's argument was too valid to completely ignore.

"Speaking of possible family issues that could cause a major scandal, Brianna contacted me yesterday." Monique's voice became very quiet as she spoke.

"She called you?" Claire asked.

"She emailed me. There's less chance of an argument breaking out via e-mail. She says she's in France, supposedly. She's planning on telling me the entire story when we're in DC next week." Claire could hear the obvious skepticism as she spoke.

"You don't believe her?" Claire asked.

"Not when there's footage of her leaving one of the best hospitals in New York with Alexis Wednesday afternoon." Again, she could hear anger in Monique's words.

"That's not unusual." Claire said, not understanding what she was hearing from Monique.

"Sorry, let me clarify. Brianna West-Hartley was seen leaving a Manhattan Hospital Wednesday with your daughter Alexis. Did you even know she was in New York? Suzuki e-mailed me those fabulous images last night. He wanted to get a quote from me confirming his story because Brianna is an old friend. The images and story will probably hit the web by noon." Monique said with an irritated sigh.

"Alexis would not come to New York without seeing me. Are you sure that it was her? Amanda's gynecologist looks exactly like my daughter." Claire asked ignoring the possible implications of another scandal.

"That's because Alexis showed her plastic surgeon a picture of Dr. Meir before the surgery. I am very sure that's your daughter in the pictures. I seriously doubt Alexis junior would be hugging the good doctor like that. I'm guessing Briana disappeared to tell Alexis what happen first."

Monique's explanation seemed perfectly logical to Claire. That would also explain why Alexis has been unavailable for the last week except for those phone calls to DJ that her grandchild ignored. That could even explain why DJ is currently hiding at his uncle's house in London.

In between yelling, Daniel was able to tell her about Alexis finally calling him last night and her coming to London tonight. If she wasn't helping Tyler get settled in, she would be on the first flight to London. What Monique said earlier was right she had to let her oldest children function on their own even if she wished otherwise. Tyler was the one who really needed her now.

"Suzuki has pictures of the three of them together?" She asked finally realizing the press team may have something else to worry about this weekend besides the London incident. Even though Monique suggested that they stand down, she is still going to have the team prepare a statement regarding Daniel's actions this morning just in case. They already had something prepared for a possible situation involving Alexis West-Hartley.

The existence of such a picture would prove what she already knew in her heart. Alexis West-Hartley is the biological daughter of her oldest child. She always thought Daniel would be the one who gave her illegitimate grandchildren not Alexis.

"Yes, but fortunately for everyone involved, Suzuki is still putting two and two together and getting 69. He thinks that Alexis and Brianna are just renewing their old friendship. If Suzuki knew the real story we would all be fucked right now. Their relationship was the best kept secret in Manhattan. I didn't know anything was going on until after we believed Alex/Alexis was dead." Monique said quietly.

"They were never really friends were they?" Claire asked already knowing the answer.

"They were the best of friends who just happened to have sex with each other. They've been sleeping together off and on up until the faking of the death." Claire actually dropped her phone when she heard that.

"They started their sexual relationship at 14?" Claire asked shocked. If that were true, she was personally surprised she did not become a grandmother earlier. Apparently, her oldest child did not pay attention to Bradford's safe sex lectures.

"That is what Briana told me. They were each other's first, but it was an open relationship. They kept it all a secret because Bradford hated her simply due to the fact her last name was Hartley until she broke off all ties to start her own business." Not for the first time she wondered how much damage she did to all of her children because of her affair with Cal Hartley. Fortunately, the conversation was cut short by another phone call. "Claire, I have to go my mother is calling with more wedding details."

"That's fine." Claire said dismissively still lost in her thoughts.

* * *

Now 30 minutes later Claire found herself being forced to slide in the backseat of Matt's baby friendly new car to pick up Tyler from rehab. They would have taken a limo but the seating arrangement made Amanda baby sick. Everything made her baby sick.

"I'm sorry you have to sit in the back Mrs. Meade. Amanda gets really nauseous when she sits in the back of the car or really any other time. Actually, she has been throwing up a lot. The doctors said its normal, despite the lack of weight gain, but I don't believe her. I am personally hoping Mandy stays unconscious until we get to the rehab center." Matt said as he pointed to Amanda who was sleeping up front clutching a bottle of ginger ale and the purse featured on page 46 of last month's issue. Claire also noticed the box of saltines and the paper bag in case of another incident in the front of the car.

"That's fine." Claire said as Matt started the car.

The ride was eerily silent after she asked a few more questions about how Amanda was handling the baby thing and the doctor's appointment Monday. She almost wished Amanda would wake up so she wouldn't have to deal with this quiet car. After a phone call to Betty where DJ actually picked up the phone and proceeded to not answer any questions she was stuck with absolute silence.

Her relationship with Matt was complicated at best and that did not make for good conversation. What exactly could they talk about without encountering some taboo subject? Just like her own children, Matt was another victim of her affair with Cal.

Tyler was an uncomfortable topic for many reasons. Just like Daniel, Matt was mad at her for keeping the existence of his brother from him for so long. Although unlike Daniel, Matt understood the type of situation Cal put her in. Matt knows what type of person his father truly is, more than Claire ever did. If she knew who Cal really was 30 years ago, she would have never fallen for his many lies. None of them would be in this situation. Matt understood why she did what she did even if there was still resentment there. Because of that, Tyler was a subject that was best avoided.

She did not want to talk about anything related to Brianna either. She was still in shock over the fact that she had no idea about her daughter's relationship with the woman beyond their extensive friendship. Was she really in that deep of an alcohol haze back then? How could she miss the connection? If she knew, she would have supported her child unconditionally.

She also couldn't help but wonder why her daughter Alexis and Brianna were exiting that particular New York Hospital. A DNA test could have been done anywhere. Why was her daughter photographed with the mother of her child exiting a medical facility that specializes in cardiac care? Why didn't Alexis contact her Wednesday if she was in town?

She tried to call Alexis immediately after ending her conversation with Monique but received no answer. She really wasn't that surprised. That has been the pattern for the last week.

She also didn't want to talk about Alexis West-Hartley. After this morning's conversation she was 100% positive Matt's adorable cousin was her granddaughter. They already talked about that particular issue several times before this most recent information surfaced. She saw no point of bringing up the issue again.

A part of Claire understood why Brianna kept her daughters paternity a secret. She had a feeling that Cal said some of the same things to his sister that he said to her years ago. Instead of running to South Dakota, Brianna ran to France. Unlike Claire, Brianna was brave enough to raise her daughter despite the nasty articles in the tabloids. Yet Claire was still mad that Brianna never told her the truth.

Any conversations involving Cal or Victoria Hartley were to be avoided at all cost. Claire was still hurt by Cal's rejection of their son. According to Amanda; Matt was not on speaking terms with either of his parents. Both individuals trigger various unpleasant emotions and memories. It was impossible for any pleasant conversation to be based on Matt's parents.

Work would normally be a safe subject of conversation but Matt and Amanda were currently in charge of reinventing the Black and White ball. When she thought of that event, she could not help but think about reaching out to Bradford that last time before the wedding. Part of her wonders if he would have followed her, he would still be with her. She knew it was illogical but a part of Claire missed him greatly despite all the lying and infidelity.

She wondered if he would find it funny that the one girl he hired because he was positive Daniel would never sleep with her, turned out to be the real love of Daniel's life. She wondered if Bradford would enjoy spending time with DJ and now Alexis junior. It didn't matter because her husband was gone for good.

Fortunately for Claire, the silence was broken by the sound of nineties boy band vocal stylings blaring from Amanda's cell phone. A semiconscious Amanda grabbed her phone from her bag without actually opening her eyes.

"Marc, how was your night with the chubby one?" Amanda asked into the phone. She assumed chubby one referred to the photographer working with Marc to prepare for the DC shoot.

"I told you Cliff is now the chubby one and Betty is now Daniel's sexy chunky play toy." At least Claire wasn't the only one cringing in the car when Amanda said this to her best friend.

"Just so you know, I packed extra lube and condoms in one of your bags." Claire actually heard Matt groan and Marc yelled through the phone that he and Cliff were just friends before his voice returned to normal and she could no longer here the other half of the conversation.

"You two are so not friends. I keep getting this I know you want to jump him vibe every time you two are in a room together. I used to find it disturbing but now that I'm not alone anymore, I'm okay with you tickling his ginger. Why do you think I put "provisions" in your luggage?" There was a pause before she continued. "Your argument is ridiculous. You don't love Trevor otherwise you would actually remember his name is Troy." Claire couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I don't think it counts as cheating if you can't remember your significant others name." Amanda said with a laugh.

"Bradford said the same thing, but it was the other way around." Claire mumbled under her breath.

Claire personally wished she could hear Marc's part of the conversation because she became completely confuse when they started talking about various hotels in the DC metro area. However, with Amanda that may not have helped. She loves Amanda like a daughter, but sometimes Claire wondered exactly how much coke that stone cold bitch Faye did during her pregnancy. At least she was able to actually stay sober for her pregnancy with Tyler. She knew for a fact that Faye could not do the same.

"Wait there's video footage of Daniel groping Betty in public on the web? What web site?" Amanda said just before pulling up the actual footage of Daniel and Betty doing very inappropriate things in a London alleyway. Yes, they were only kissing, but it was one of those kisses where it looked like they were only minutes from ripping each other's clothes off. If things kept up like that she would be getting a new grandchild very soon. At that moment, Matt was trying very hard to pay attention to the road instead of the fuzzy audio of the 'love sounds' coming from the two oblivious lovebirds. Amanda was too lost in a conversation about Daniel's kissing technique to notice Matt's extreme discomfort.

"Daniel did what? Why, am I not surprised? Send me the URL." Claire was positive Amanda and Marc were talking about the London morning incident before Amanda pulled up the clip of her son punching someone out on British television.

"I got to show Matt the whole thing when he's not driving. This is funnier than when he punched my now boyfriend last year at the U.N. Why did we not post that? Daniel is so in love with his little churro. Who sent you the footage? Justin is such a gossip queen."

Claire was half convinced Justin probably send the footage to most of _Mode_ at this point as she saw the clip in her inbox again 30 minutes later. Maybe Monique was right about putting Justin in charge of generating buzz for Mode via social media.

"Daniel is so going to kill you for posting about the coin toss thing. Matt can we pull over I think I am going to throw up again."

Claire wondered specifically what instance Amanda was referring to. Once she had time to watch the entire incident she was shocked that Daniel didn't throw a punch earlier due to all the nasty things being said. They even had the audacity to bring Molly in to it. She no longer found Daniel's reaction that shocking. She probably would have done the same thing.

What disturbs Claire most about the entire incident was the fact that as Betty was being ambushed by the happy morning duel, her boss stood by and did nothing. The man did not even bother to defend his new EIC when they essentially accused Betty of getting her current job by less ethical means. Claire found this extremely odd. Then again the whole situation was odd.

Because she knew Betty personally and knew of her extraordinary abilities, Claire never questioned the fact that Betty was being hired as the EIC of a brand new magazine after being a junior editor for less than a year. She knew of Betty's potential and didn't find it that unusual that someone else saw it to.

Because she knew what a good person her future daughter in law was, she knew the allegations about Betty getting her Current position with sex were completely false. She would not lie to herself and say that Betty and Daniel's relationship was completely platonic until recently, but she knew that Betty would not use her personal relationship with Daniel to advance her career. If that were the case Betty would be the new EIC of Diversity Business.

However, that didn't mean that Lindsey didn't hire Betty for some other reason. Bradford never cared much for his British counterpart. She would not be surprised if Lindsey had an ulterior motive for hiring Betty. Claire just wished she knew what this motive was. This was Claire's final thought as Amanda as sensually ruined the interior of Matt's new car along with her new $2000 bag because she didn't grab the 'baby sick' bag on the floor in time.

* * *

After finding a car wash in the middle of nowhere and losing an hour to clean the car, they continued on to get Tyler. She was surprised they only lost an hour.

She was sure that Tyler was much happier to see his brother and Amanda then her. Although he hugged her, she couldn't help but notice his angry gaze.

The car ride back was less silent but that was only because Amanda and Tyler chatted the entire time on everything from Monday's doctor's appointment to her trying to build her relationship with her biological father.

Amanda was still upset that Spencer was not ready to acknowledge her publicly due to Victoria Hartley's interference. It hurt her to hear Tyler sympathize with Amanda. Claire realized she was doing the exact same thing. No one knew that Tyler was her son. Although Cal's involvement cannot be mentioned for various reasons including Matt's power play weeks ago she could still come clean herself.

She tried not to think about this during the emergency teleconference that afternoon with her, Mark and Monique as she sat in the back of the car next to her child that ignored her. The two day photo shoot at the Department of State was cut back to just one day and their interview with Secretary Clinton about being the mother of the bride was canceled. Monique kept cursing Isabella and surprisingly enough Lindsey the entire time. Claire knew she was missing something but did not have time to ask questions.

It seems that Isabella will be shooting at State the day before Mode and most likely now had the exclusive with Clinton about Chelsea's wedding.

"We still had the interviews and other things needed for the piece about illegal wildlife trafficking and poaching. That's the only reason why superstar actress and active Angie Carson and her life partner/Co. parent the equally spectacular Bradley Peach even agreed to be on the cover of the August fashion cares issue." Marc said trying to prevent a meltdown.

"The only reason why we still have the Carson and Peach photo shoot is because Nikolai knew nothing about it. I'm positive our little defector completely fucked us over. Like I needed more drama today. Great, the fashion vampire was right." Monique said screaming. Claire wasn't sure who Monique was talking about.

"I never liked him." She heard Marc mumble though she could still hear him.

"This is war. I have some friends at the Smithsonian and I will see if we can arrange for something new on short notice. It looks like you and Cliff will be doing the tourist thing scouting for new locations tomorrow. Claire, if you know anyone in the DC government that could help facilitate some permits that would be good. E-mail everything to my temporary assistant L'Amanda"

She spent the rest of the car ride that afternoon discussing other options by phone. She was almost ready to cancel the State Department shoot completely because Isabella was doing the exact same thing until she was emailed footage of the Marshall Wing entrance. The architecture of the historical building was brilliant. Let Isabella have the Ben Franklin room she had a better idea. Working on the crisis gave her something to focus on other than the fact her youngest child hated her.

The uncomfortable ride to the city that involved three stops to allow Amanda to throw up was followed by an equally uncomfortable lunch at one of the better restaurants in town where discretion was just as important as the food. She realized as a no longer nauseous Amanda tried to eat half the menu that Matt was just as uncomfortable with the situation as she was.

* * *

Matt loved his Aunt Brianna, usually. When things were falling apart and his parents completely ignored him she was the only one really there for him. He knew she was the one to trust when he found out that he was going to be a father. He also knew that his Aunt Brianna was the one to turn to when he found out he was no longer an only child due to his father's lack of respect for the institution of marriage and his marriage vows.

At the same time, his aunt was 'flaky'. She was known to disappear without notice or lock herself in her design studio for weeks at a time when inspiration struck. There was a reason why she was the only one who didn't judge Matt for his constant career changes. She has been more reliable since Alexis was born but honestly, Matt wasn't that shocked she supposedly took off for Europe without telling anyone just so she can avoid questions about baby lexis's paternity. He really couldn't be upset about that it was just the way his aunt was.

He wasn't very surprised that 20 minutes ago he received a text message from his father asking what the hell his aunt was doing in London except for the fact that his father actually contacted him. He has received a lot of these messages over the years whenever Brianna went off the deep end. He's pretty sure his aunt has received the same type of messages from his mother.

Matt was so annoyed in this instance that he responded with an "I don't know but I'm too busy having lunch with the child you wanted Claire to kill to find out." Matt did not receive any more messages from dear old dad after that.

The fact that he was with Tyler was the real reason why he was upset with his aunt. Because of her last minute trip to Europe to most likely tell Alexis Senior that she is the other mother/biological father of Alexis Junior, Matt was stuck dealing with the Tyler situation. In this case, it meant picking up his half brother up from rehab with Claire and having Tyler sleep on his couch until Aunt Brianna decides to return to New York. According to a phone call received from Monique last night giving him permission to be off today, that would probably be next week sometime but then again she completely lied about being in Paris. During this phone call Monique also e-mailed him pictures of the happy family leaving one of the best cardiology centers in Manhattan.

Matt also blamed his girlfriend for his predicament. A couple of days ago during one of their regular phone calls, Tyler mentioned how uncomfortable he was with staying with Claire until Brianna got back from her urgent 'business trip'. Amanda was the one who suggested that Tyler stay with him.

"I just want to let you know that the apartment really isn't that big. I am actually subletting it from a friend because I sold my loft when I was doing volunteer work in Africa." Matt said as he circled the block looking for a parking space.

The thing he hated the most about his current apartment was the lack of parking. He decided to spare Tyler all the details about why he was currently subletting an apartment from his ex girlfriend so he could live by his current girlfriend because she was still mad at him for not trusting her. As soon as Amanda was okay with the idea, he was finding a nice apartment with underground parking.

"That's fine. I've lived in worse. As long as you have a comfortable couch, I will be happy." He noticed a very sad look on Claire's face as Tyler said this.

"Tyler the offer still stands if you want to stay at my house until Brianna gets back. I have plenty of room." Claire said from beside Tyler in the back.

"It's fine Claire." Again there was that sad look when Tyler did not refer to her as mom.

"Mrs. Meade, it's fine. It will give the two of them time to do the sibling bonding thing. Matt is Tyler's only brother that's still living in the states. In addition, Matt's apartment is alcohol free because no one trusts me around anything alcoholic. I'm not going to do anything that stupid. Oh wait, that reminds me I forgot to show Tyler the footage of big Brother Daniel punching out some asshole British Matt Lauer wanna be this morning." His girlfriend said passing her phone back to Tyler.

"At least he's not punching me again. I think he has anger issues. Has he considered therapy?" Tyler said after viewing the footage.

"Probably and no I don't think he's considered therapy. Don't feel bad he punched me out last year during the middle of a photo shoot." Matt said as he spotted a car in front of him pulling out of the space.

"That was so not Daniel's fault. You accused him of screwing Betty." Amanda answered back.

"I thought they were dating now? Actually, I thought they were dating when I first got here. Every time I tried to talk to her, he would freak out. They just seem too close to be just friends." Matt was too busy parking the car into the just big enough spot to respond to his brother. However, Claire and Amanda did it for him.

"Seriously, how could everybody see it but those two?" Claire mumbled under her breath.

"They saw the feelings there they were just terrified by it. It took Betty moving to another country for him to actually make a move." Amanda said as she unfastened her seat belt and proceeded to get out of the car.

After grabbing Tyler's one small suitcase out of the trunk, they began walking to the apartment. When they turned the block, they could see dozens of reporters waiting for them. Before they started shouting questions Matt wondered if they found out that Tyler was the illegitimate son of Cal Hartley. Thankfully, their questions focused on Betty and his aunt.

When Suzuki started asking him about his aunt's relationship with Alexis Meade, he finally understood his father's text message from earlier. If Amanda would have checked her e-mail in the car, she would have found a video file of baby Lexis sleeping on Alexis seniors lap and calling her mommy. Half the reporters were trying to get him to confirm that Alexis Meade fathered Alexis West-Hartley before her gender reassignment surgery.

The other half of the reporters were trying to confirm that he ended his public relationship with Betty Suarez because she was carrying on an affair with the then married Daniel Meade. His only response to their questions was to laugh and congratulate Betty on her new relationship. If they only knew what Daniel's wife actual role was in this entire fiasco.

Amanda was able to sneak Tyler into the apartment as the reporters turned on Ms. Meade. Once Amanda came back out the reporters focused on her and because his girlfriend loved the camera, she gave them what they wanted.

"Daniel has been a good friend to me for over five years. He is one of the greatest people I know. He was there for me when I found out that Faye Somers was my biological mother and I was there for him when Molly died. He loved Molly very much and would never consider cheating on her. Those rumors are completely false." Now, if Amanda would have ended her speech right there things would have been great unfortunately his girlfriend was sometimes too blunt and honest for her own good.

"He was way too in denial about being in love with Betty last year for anything like that to have happen. Molly knew about his feelings for Betty but Daniel didn't. That's why Molly asked her best friend to play postmortem matchmaker for the two most oblivious people in the universe. Why is everybody making such a big deal about it? It's not like Betty is the first person Daniel slept with after Molly died. That was me, sort of. But don't worry, it was just sex."

At that point, both he and Claire were literally pulling Amanda into the building to keep her from saying anything else. Before they were even up to their floor, Claire was on a conference call with the press department and Monique. No yelling at Amanda occurred because that could trigger a pregnancy crying jag.

30 seconds later his phone started ringing. He tried to ignore it, but the person kept calling. Finally, he answered the phone only to hear the voice of his mother screaming at him about his supposedly loose girlfriend who probably was pregnant with someone else's child.

To be Continued

* * *

The Wilhelmina and Monique stuff is in the next chapter. It's already written, I just need to review it and send it to my beta.


	15. Trouble in Mode Paradise: II

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Special thank you to JustWriter2 for giving me the perfect way to end this chapter.

**Special note:** This chapter runs parallel to the last one.

Warning: Sexual content

* * *

Trouble in Mode Paradise: Part Two

Wilhelmina honestly wondered how she found herself waiting for her former rival down the street from the Mode offices, in a deli of all places. She was currently staring down the horribly dressed woman with a bad dye job who was trying to get her to order something other than a high price bottle of water. Wilhelmina was shocked the restaurant with the horrible decorum actually sold something other than Dasani.

She was somewhat surprised to receive a message from Monique via her emergency e-mail account yesterday. Wilhelmina was not even sure how Monique got that address. At first, she thought Marc gave her the address until her conversation with Connor yesterday afternoon during their last visit before the wedding Tuesday.

"I gave her that address a couple weeks ago in case of an emergency. No, Monique is not my biological sister even if her father did have offices in Milbourn and was prone to sample the local population." Connor said with a laugh just before he kissed her again. Wilhelmina was very familiar with the reputation of Monique's biological father. The older Wyndham-West was a ruthless businessman who fucked everyone over literally and figuratively for the sake of making another dollar. Before the shooting, he was someone Wilhelmina considered a role model. Not anymore.

"I didn't think so, but I had to ask. You never know with a father like hers. It would have been perfect black mail material. Why did she refer to herself by that name?" Wilhelmina asked right before she kissed her fiancé back. She loved his kisses. When his lips touch hers, she felt complete. She was no longer empty. Almost dying was worth it because it brought her back to the one person she loved the most.

"One time when Molly was very sick in the hospital years ago, they wouldn't let Monique in to see her because she wasn't 'family'. Monique and Molly told the doctor that Monique was her fiancé's sister. She used the same cover last month to sneak in here to tell me about the shooting in person. In case you didn't make it, she didn't want me to find out about it the same way she found out about her first husband's death." She could detect sadness in Connor's voice but it did not prevent him from pulling off her top.

After losing several good suits last year due to Connors 'enthusiasm', Wilhelmina started wearing more casual attire that could be removed faster for their now bi-weekly conjugal visits. She just didn't feel like sporting the prison house chic look on every fashion website in the world again. Although, she doubted that happening now that most of the industry thought she was 'retired'.

If the Isabella buyout keeps going as badly as it has so far, her retirement may be a bit more permanent than originally intended. Although, the thought of living on some private island with Connor without worrying about the latest styles or the fashion magazine wars was more appealing now than before. At least it would be something tangible even if the boredom would begin to set in by the second week.

"She's always been a sentimental fool. That's her biggest weakness." Wilhelmina said with a snicker as she began to pull down Connors jumpsuit. Yet a part of her was happy about Monique's sentimentality. If Monique was not such a sentimental fool, Wilhelmina would not have her Connor back. For that reason alone, she acquiesced when her future husband asked for Monique to be at their wedding.

"It's also her biggest strength." Connor said quickly. "Sometimes caring can be a good thing. Monique contacted you for a reason. I suggest you meet with her. It's obvious that she knows why things are not going as smoothly with the Isabella deal as it should be. I looked at the numbers myself. Isabella Press is probably two months from bankruptcy at most. Yet instead of taking your offer seriously, they want you to take over for that idiotic woman who ran their flagship magazine into the ground. Something's not right." It was hard for Wilhelmina to pay attention to his words as his hands ran over her body touching her in all her favorite places.

"I know the lack of interest from Isabella seems suspicious and my contact Carlo knows nothing." Wilhelmina said just before pulling him in for another earth-shattering kiss.

"You know she is the only person I know that is as connected as you are and is just as ruthless. She is a pit bull underneath her sweet and innocent façade. She did work at Isabella Press for several years and was well liked. She knew about the blood in the water months before anyone else did. She also doesn't screw over people that she owes. You're the one who rescued her from _Player_ purgatory and therefore she owes you." Connor said in between heated kisses as he pulled down the drawstring pants she was wearing, so that they could make the most of their hour together.

"I'm the one who put her in Player purgatory. I had no idea she would flourish in the seventh circle of publishing hell. She only survived because of those connections that come from mommy dearest. Mrs. Wyndham-West is one of the biggest players on the Upper East Side. That's why she got such great covers." There was no way Wilhelmina would ever admit again that Monique made Player a buyable publication because of her actual skills.

"This is coming from the daughter of a senator. How exactly did you manage to get biweekly conjugal visits before the wedding, again?" Connor said just as he destroyed another $400 custom bra due to his impatience.

Her father, the Senator was willing to give her tangible things such as conjugal visits with Connor instead of things like his love and affection. He did not even send her a card when she almost died. He didn't even think about leaving the campaign trail to actually see his dying child in ICU. Then again, he never visited his other daughter during her extended stay at Serenity Hills. At least she made time to stop by every once in awhile along with a monthly care package to her sister. Although her father did use her near death experience to promote his stance on gun control. Helping her spend time with Connor was his way of not actually caring about her.

"You made your point Owens." She said in an angry tone. "This is our last conjugal visit before the wedding Tuesday and I want to enjoy it. I don't want to waste it talking about Monique Osborn or whatever her last name is now. Just shut up and fuck me." Wilhelmina said as she pushed Conner on to the way too small prison bed.

Wilhelmina was brought out of her memory of the afternoon before with Connor as she heard Monique walking into the restaurant screaming at someone on the phone as the girl behind the counter flipped her off.

"First of all Cara, this is my wedding. Daniel is my friend. If I want him to be in the wedding party, he will be. If he wants to bring his new girlfriend to the wedding, he can. As much as it hurts me to say this Molly's gone and she is never coming back. Daniel has the right to fall in love again. His girlfriend Betty is actually a really good person despite whatever they said about her on British television. Really, you shouldn't believe everything you see on You Tube. Not everybody gets ahead in this world by spreading their legs." Most people would find her tone civil but Wilhelmina knew that she was angry.

At the same time, the girl behind the counter started shooting hateful glares at Monique as she walked behind the counter as if she owned the place, grabbing whatever she wanted. Considering this was her boyfriend's restaurant, she probably did actually own the place.

"No, I don't think it's too soon for him to be with someone else. Yes, I know that their living together. Your point is?" Monique said into the headset as she started slamming doors behind the counter.

"Contrary to whatever they were saying on British TV this morning Daniel was not sleeping with Betty behind Molly's back. The fact that he punched out the guy does not mean the accusations were true." Again, Wilhelmina could hear the anger in her voice as she saw the not skinny fashion EIC put together a breakfast sandwich that would take hours to burn off.

"You know if you don't want to be in the wedding anymore fine. I bet Betty would make a much better bridesmaid. She can take your place. If you're going to be that judgmental, I don't want you there. Personally, I think you and your husband refusing to come to my wedding for the pettiest reason ever is a good thing. I think Andrew is an ass and according to my mom his best friend Nathan from college isn't just a 'friend'. I didn't want to say anything because unlike you I didn't want to repeat a vicious rumor until I was sure that your husband is on the down low. You and he may want to have a nice little chat about his weekly visits to Boy Town." With that Monique ended the call as she started screaming expletives into her headset.

"Its moments like these I wish I had a phone that I could actually slam. I need to break something." Monique said to no one in particular in the small deli as she walked back to Wilhelmina carrying two breakfast sandwiches, the same type of bottled water that Wilhelmina was currently drinking, and a set of keys.

"Wonderful speech, I almost respect you for that. I see you're still cleaning up Daniel's messes. I know that call had something to do with Daniel being stupid. What did he do this time?" Wilhelmina asked actually caring what Daniel did. She was starting to miss Daniel in a 'now she's bored without the scheming' way. She had a lot more free time now that she was no longer planning his demise. She misses it.

"That was more wedding insanity from one of my so-called friends. It was better than the call this morning from my mother when I found out my father is bringing his now pregnant girlfriend to my wedding and my sister may not even show up due to some excuse so ridiculous I will not bother repeating it."

"At least her monkey does not have rabies." Wilhelmina mumbled under her breath remembering the weak excuse her daughter came up with to not come to her wedding to Bradford. She did not even bother to invite her this time because as far as Wilhelmina is concerned she has no daughter. Marc is the closest thing she has to a child. At least he cared if she lived or died. The discussion of possible nuptial disasters made Wilhelmina happy she decided to go with a small wedding this time.

"What? Never mind. My wedding would be going to hell right now regardless of Daniel Meade's involvement. Some people just need a scapegoat. Daniel is not a complete fuck up or anywhere near as incompetent as you think he is. He is doing a really good job in England right now. He even got British rock superstar Katie Kay and her brand new American comedian husband Richard Snow for next month's cover."

"He actually did something right for once. I'm impressed." Wilhelmina said coldly.

"Don't sound so cynical. I don't even think you believe he's really an incompetent fool. You put too much effort into beating him for the last four years to truly believe that." Monique said as she started to walk to the door again.

The thing that Wilhelmina hates the most about Monique Osborn soon to be Rossi, was she is too good at reading people or more importantly she was too good at reading Wilhelmina. Monique picked up on things about her that most people ignored.

"Follow me, we're not staying here." Monique said as they walked out the door to an empty storefront that used to be one of the few restaurants Wilhelmina found tolerable about two blocks away. Monique quickly unlocked the door as Wilhelmina followed behind her into the space under construction. The new restaurant was mostly finished, but equipment still littered the area.

"You didn't actually bring me here to kill me." Wilhelmina asked as she walked over to one of the finished tables and sat down. Even though she was healing nicely after being shot by the crazy illegitimate spawn of Claire, she was still unable to stand for long periods of time. Her doctor was actually making her rest. At least her time away from _Mode_ was good for something.

"Do you really think I'm stupid? Why would I try to kill you on my own property? This is Gio's wedding present and I would hate to get blood on the new carpets before opening day." Monique joked before she pulled out one of the breakfast sandwiches from earlier and gave it to Wilhelmina.

"I think blood splotches are about the only thing that would help these dreadful carpets. What's this?" Wilhelmina asked eyeing the sandwich suspiciously.

"If you could hold out on the snide comments about the décor until opening weekend, I would appreciate it. I know you usually live on $5.00 bottles of water and the occasional heart of a newborn child but that is breakfast. Supposedly it's the most important meal of the day." Monique said taking a drink of her water.

"I know that. You are drinking the same water. I mean what is in it. I do not eat any of the artery clogging things that you are currently consuming such as cheddar cheese or bacon. You are getting married in eight days. Shouldn't you be starving yourself?" She said looking at the fashion EIC eating a cheddar cheese and bacon sandwich on a French baguette.

"I've lost 6 pounds in the last week due to stressful wedding arrangements, a teenager who doesn't listen to anything I say, and a MIA dress designer. If I lose any more weight, my dress is going to fall off me. You need to eat as well if you want to be healthy enough to suck the blood of the innocent in your next career, as well as give Connor a good honeymoon conjugal visit. Marc would kill me if I let you starve. That thing you're looking at with such disdain is a sun dried tomato, spinach, and fate cheese egg white omelet on low fat six grain bread. I had Dominique make your food before I got here. I don't trust her to prepare anything for me because she would probably season it with arsenic." Wilhelmina was not entirely sure Monique was being sarcastic.

"What did you do to piss her off? I saw the way she was looking at you." Wilhelmina asked taking a tentative bite of the sandwich. It was actually edible.

"Dominique is Gio's business partner and former girlfriend. Technically, they were still together when I started dating my current fiancée. She's a little bitter about the wedding next week. If it wasn't for me, she would probably be the one walking down the aisle with Gio. In an effort to not be a bitch, I don't say anything when sourdough girl gives me the middle finger or calls me nasty names." If Wilhelmina was ignorant of the true nature of Monique Osborn like everyone else, she would be shocked but she knew better. She wasn't dealing with sweet and innocent Betty anymore. Monique lived in the gray.

"I always knew you had balls Osborn." She said with a bit of respect.

"I'll take that as a compliment. I'm kind of busy dealing with doing three issues at the same time, along with the wedding disaster triggered by this morning's incident on London Morning. I don't have time to play around. Let's move on to the important stuff." She had no idea what Monique was talking about when she referred to London Morning but she was finding out as soon as this meeting was over. She missed having Marc for that sort of thing. It is so hard to keep up with the latest gossip completely on her own.

"I would like to get this conversation over with as quickly as possible. Yesterday our favorite fashion reporter provided me with…" Monique was cut off by her phone ringing. Apparently, the call was important and she excused herself to talk to whoever was on the other side.

"I know you saw Daniel and Betty together at my celebration party last year. Why are you shocked by what you are seeing in the gossip columns today? At the time, they were still just friends. I do not know why you are being so upset now went six months ago you were actually congratulating him on the fact that he was dating again. Don't be a hypocrite."

Apparently, Daniel did something very juicy with the former unfashionable one. She personally hoped it wasn't public sex again. There were certain parts of Daniel that she never wanted to see again. She had that entire bathroom remodeled after she walked in on him in there when he was sleeping with her sister just to help get rid of the memory.

"What they were saying is completely untrue. Molly may have been dying at the time but she knew exactly what was going on between her husband and his best friend. If you don't want to come to the wedding anymore, that's fine. Don't try to be so noble about it. I will take you off the list. I will just donate your wedding party favour bag to charity." Monique screamed again as she ended the call before taking off her headset and threw it across the room.

"Daniel did screw up?" Wilhelmina asked.

"I told you before, Daniel didn't screw up. His relationship with Betty is no one's business but his and Betty's, including Molly's good meaning friends who just happened to be my friends. How could you not know about what happened? Don't you usually have people searching for dirt on those you absolutely despise?" Monique said as she pulled up the video file on her phone and passed it to Wilhelmina.

Why couldn't Daniel punch somebody out on television last year when she was trying to steal the company from him? If she knew Daniel being with Betty would make him do stuff this stupid, she would have encouraged their relationship years ago.

"You think he would have learned his lesson about hitting people in public after the incident with Matt?" Wilhelmina commented offhandedly.

"Even I would've hit the guy under the circumstances. Whoever set up that interview for Betty on London morning was preparing a hit. I'm personally thinking somebody who was pissed off about the not white American getting an EIC position at a hot new magazine at 26. Everyone hated me when I did it at 27. She even broke my record. That was the most obvious set up I have seen sense the Sophie incident years ago. You didn't e-mail a copy of your 'Betty black mail file' to anyone? This seems like something you would do." How did Monique even know about that file? Did Marc tell her? Did Monique really think that little of her?

"No, I did not forward that file to anyone. I actually respect Betty. She is a good writer and she will make a good EIC of something not related to fashion. She has good instincts, although I personally believe she needs a few more years to refine them before she is thrown into the deep end. She should be able to swim with the British sharks anyway, as long as she avoids the burrito cart." She said as a backhanded compliment.

"Her taste isn't that bad. She actually looked really good in that interview. She's not even fat, just not anorexic." Monique defended Betty.

"Daniel or her fashion friend probably chose that outfit. You are right, the incident seems suspicious. The whole thing does seem like something I would have done to make Daniel look bad. Unfortunately, Daniel never had a serious girlfriend other than the dying school teacher/Betty Suarez placebo and even I draw the line at using a dying woman in one of my takeover Meade schemes." Wilhelmina was not as heartless as everybody assumed she was. She drew the line at denying her sister psychiatric medication and even then it worked out for the best. It seemed that her sister's body was not handling her medication very well and that fact was only discovered when she was hospitalized again.

"It's nice to know you have some morality. I thought you lost that when Wanda sold her soul to become Wilhelmina. As hard as it is to believe, certain British TV hosts have less ethics than you do. In an effort to make Betty look like a fool this morning, in addition to accusing her of getting her brand new job by spreading her legs, they essentially said she got her old one by screwing Daniel when Molly was on her deathbed." Monique said angrily. Wilhelmina would smile but her pre wedding botox made that impossible.

"I hate Daniel and I know that's untrue. He would never do that to Molly or Betty. Unfortunately, Daniel always had too much morality for that. It made him a good person, but a bad Mode EIC. Even if Daniel gave Betty the junior editor position because they were sleeping together, that doesn't make her any less qualified. I would not let her have that position if I didn't think she could do it. Unlike the simpleminded fool Daniel, I don't allow my emotions to influence business decisions.

"That would mean actually having emotions. Look, I know she is qualified. You know that she is qualified. Anybody who has ever met Betty know she is a caring and intelligent person, who would never do anything wrong except for a few indiscretions like kissing Daniel when she was still dating Matt." That last part was mumbled under Monique's breath.

"What?" Wilhelmina asked in mock shock. She remembered Daniel telling her about this incident when they were stuck in the elevator after he tried to kiss her.

"I will show you the pictures from my not a Christmas party later. It doesn't matter, because Matt kissed Amanda the week before. You know Betty would not do something like that. That is why I'm not angry we're dealing with a public relations nightmare because Daniel punched the guy out. I personally wanted to join in. What I do not get is Lindsey standing there like his new star employee is not having her character assassinated? Even though my friend who works for him said otherwise, I thought he was a pretty outstanding guy." Even though Monique is less trusting than certain pie in the sky idealist, she was still somewhat naiveté. When it came to the bottom line everybody was ruthless. His behavior did not seem too unusual, especially if Lindsey had another reason to hire Betty. Wilhelmina knew for a fact that Lindsey could be just as heartless as her when it was absolutely necessary.

"I would have done the same thing if I could get something out of it. I assume this is not what you want to talk about?" She said quickly taking another bite of the delicious sandwich. Not that she would ever tell Monique that it tastes good.

"Not really. Let's just get to it before I get another nasty phone call from one of my so-called friends. According to our favorite fashion journalist, Isabella is desperately looking for a buyer because they are in worst financial shape then us after your future husband robbed Meade blind. We already knew this. However, the thing is you are not the only possible savior in town. Matt's mom along with some unnamed European Publishing House is trying to buy Isabella Press." Wilhelmina knew something like that had to be going on considering how badly the negotiations have been going.

"I thought you said that no one else was interested. Although, that does explain why I keep getting offers to take over as EIC of Isabella instead of becoming the president of the company." The offer was slightly insulting. They wanted to pay her 30% less than what her salary was in her previous position without the profit sharing. Did they really think she was that desperate? With the money from the sale of her shares of Meade she could start her own magazine if she wanted to. Maybe it was time to do something different. It was a possibility anyway.

"That's what I was told by my contact but apparently the deal with Victoria Hartley and that unnamed European publishing house is being kept very quiet until the deal is final. If it falls apart they are afraid it may cause Isabella's stock to go into the toilet completely. Unlike Meade, Isabella Press is publicly traded." That makes sense in a weird way that irritated Wilhelmina. She was actually impressed.

"That explains why they are giving me the runaround." Wilhelmina said with a sigh.

"You're the plan B. If things fall through with Victoria Hartley or the unnamed European investor, you are the fallback. I personally believe Victoria only wants to buy Isabella to piss off Claire. Their rivalry is getting worse now that Matt bought a piece of the Meade Empire for himself and Claire is supporting Matt's decision to stay with Amanda."

Wilhelmina personally believes the rivalry comes from the fact that Claire screwed Victoria's husband but she didn't say anything. It looked like Wilhelmina was going to be spending the afternoon at the tennis club to find out what is really going on.

"Then I'll just have to make sure the deal falls apart." Wilhelmina said already putting a plan together starting with making friends with Victoria Hartley again.

"How are you going to do that? None of my contacts at Isabella were able to provide me with a name of the European party. All I can find out was that the other buyer is a publishing powerhouse in the European markets. The company owns several fashion and lifestyle magazines in most of the major European markets but have no presence in the U.S. They are looking to diversify their portfolio. The company is currently branching out into non-fashion publications with a European version of the New Yorker. That is also why they're interested in Isabella Press because of their many other non fashion magazines including _Out In Business_ and _Politics Now_."

Wilhelmina was shocked that Monique didn't see the connection. It was absolutely genius. Why didn't she ever think of anything that devious?

"Does this mysterious publisher have a new magazine called _London Hub_?" Wilhelmina asked waiting for Monique to get it.

"You think it's Lindsey?" The new Mode EIC asked skeptically.

"He has the money and an extreme hatred for Mode magazine no matter what country it's published in. He and Bradford hated each other. There was this incident a couple years ago at London Fashion Week where I had to post bail for Bradford after an altercation. Fortunately, Faye was able to keep it out of the press. Apparently my old boss was screwing Lindsey too and Bradford found out." That was just the tip of the iceberg for that particular feud but she wasn't going to tell Monique everything.

"What you say makes sense in a weird way. He did say no to Betty participating in the West-Hartley shoot next week. Also, Candy said that the interview was scheduled so last minute the Daniel allowed Betty to borrow an outfit from the closet because she didn't have time to go shopping." Wilhelmina smiled when Monique confirmed her assumption that Daniel chose what Betty was wearing.

"He also stood there and did nothing. He acted as if he knew exactly what was going to happen." Wilhelmina said pointing out the cruel truth of the matter.

"But what does using Betty like that have to do with Mode. She is no longer a Mode employee even if she is dating the EIC of Mode UK. That stunt will most likely affect sales of the first issue of London hub."

"First, remember any publicity is good publicity. Everybody is going to want to read the first issue to find out more about the controversial person putting it together. Once they read the first issue, everyone will realize the reason why Betty got her job and it has nothing to do with her spreading her legs for Daniel Meade. That stunt was not about making Betty look bad. It was about making Daniel and Mode look bad. That is important because Daniel's the competition now. He needs to make Daniel look like a fool. When I left, Mode UK was bleeding advertisers because of the instability of the former EIC."

"You have a point. Who wants to advertise in a magazine ran by the laughing stock of England? I have a few contacts at London style. I was planning on calling anyway to get a non bias read out on what happened this morning." Monique said quickly.

"You might want to ask your contact what the press department is doing to make the situation go away. If they are doing nothing, then you know the truth." Wilhelmina said as she took another bite of the actually edibles sandwich.

"I will look into it. I have to go. I have an 8:00 AM Meeting with Kenny from accounting and then we're shooting on location at nine." Monique said getting up from the table.

"There's just one more thing." Wilhelmina said as she got up from the seat.

"Normally, I wouldn't say anything but consider this your wedding present. Even though we both know Betty has potential, the new job in London was too good to be true. There has to be a catch. I always knew that the key to Daniel's success was Betty. I was just not aware it was because Betty believed in Daniel. I always thought if I separated the two, Daniel would fall flat on his ass and I could take over. Unfortunately, their connection was always too strong. Maybe someone else is trying the same thing."

"You think this is what Lindsey did? He hired Betty for a job in London to make mode U.S. more vulnerable." She could hear the skepticism in Monique's voice.

"It's a possibility. If that is the case, it backfired on him." Wilhelmina said the last part in a near whisper.

"Why am I not surprised?" Monique said as she pulled two white envelopes out of her purse and handed them to Wilhelmina.

"What's this?"

"The first is an invitation to my wedding. I'm going to need help getting Marc to see the truth. I figured you would want to help me set up your good kid with the love of his life. You do owe him for six years of loyal service. The other is your wedding present." Monique said with a small smile as Wilhelmina took the envelopes from her hand as they walked out the door.

"I wasn't sure what to get, so I made reservations for you and Connor once he gets out at his favorite bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere. I think you'll like it. I will see you Tuesday before the wedding". That was the last thing that Wilhelmina heard her say as she found herself a cab.

* * *

One of Daniel's better ideas recently was to have DJ be her interned this summer. Even Lindsey thought it was a good idea, but that may have something to do with the fact that he was friends with DJ's mom before she was killed in a car accident years ago.

That idea was better than his decision this morning to punch out the person who was saying nasty things about her on British morning television. She learned a long time ago to let it go otherwise she would have ended up punching out a lot of people beginning with Megan. During one of their recent transatlantic conversations, Amanda told her all about Megan's 'strategy' last year to get with Matt. That made her even happier that Amanda was now with her ex.

DJ was currently filling in as her assistant until Betsy arrives Monday. It also helped that DJ could tell her exactly what certain coworkers were saying when they tried to talk behind her back right in front of her in French. She did feel bad about exposing a 15 year old to that much cursing.

Today DJ was stuck not answering her phone calls and filtering her emails. The magazine has received 126 phone calls in just over 6 hours. The e-mail count was currently at 8592. DJ scent her some of the more positive e-mails. She is also pretty sure that he probably sent some of the others to his uncle.

Her personal cell phone wasn't faring much better. Thankfully, due to the time difference she had a few hours of peace this morning that coincided with several morning meetings with her staff. However, everyone who works with Daniel was calling her to offer their encouragement, telling her not to pay attention to the 'jealous no talent idiots'.

Candy let her know Daniel received a very long lecture from his mother who was woken up by the legal team this morning. It was not a pretty conversation. Apparently, Candy listened in on the other line to all the yelling.

Monique also called Daniel to let him know that he was in charge of getting himself out of this mess and she completely believed in him. Monique told Betty this herself when she called her a few hours ago to tell her not to pay attention to idiots and to let Betty know she went through the same thing when she took over Diversity Business and later Player. In her case, she supposedly got her job by sleeping with both Alexis and Daniel.

By 6:00 AM east coast time, that peace was over. As expected the first one to call was Justin. The incident was all over YouTube and the lead story on the American Version of Fashion Buzz. Apparently, Suzuki missed Daniel and his ability to generate a good scandal greatly.

After that, her father called. She is pretty sure her dad wished he was the one to punch the guy. It turns out he does know that she and Daniel are actually living together. After that uncomfortable conversation, she gave her cell phone over to DJ for the rest of the day.

DJ was actually really good at not answering anyone's questions. He must get that from Alexis. Now DJ and she were trying to have a quick late lunch before her 3:00 PM emergency meeting with Penelope, the head of the PR Dept or whatever they call it here.

The only thing going in her favor was Mr. Dunn thought Daniel's actions were endearing and would most likely increase _London Style_ sales by 10%. He also said something about Daniel being a much better person than Bradford ever was. He was not worried about what the scandal would do to London Hub.

"People will not doubt your abilities once they read your first issue." This made her feel a little better.

Hours later, DJ was giving her the highlights of her earlier phone calls as she ate a sandwich.

"Grandma called. She apologizes for raising an impulsive idiot and wants to take you to the spa Friday before the MAMA awards." DJ said in slightly accented English.

"Tell her yes. Did you actually tell your grandmother why you're hiding at our house?"

"I could but then I would have to tell her why I woke up at 1:00 AM to hear you referring to my uncle as god." DJ said with a mysterious smile.

"You heard us?" A shake of DJs had made her blushed profusely.

"You scream very loudly."

"Fine you win. However, I think I know what's going on. If you need someone to talk to I'm here." She was hoping DJ would say something but he didn't.

Fortunately, her phone rang disrupting the uncomfortable silence. She didn't recognize the ring tone. She thought she fixed everything after Amanda reprogrammed her phone months ago on the way home from London fashion week. The fact that DJ talked to this person in French did not help Betty figure out who he was talking to. After a few moments DJ covered the mouthpiece before he spoke to her.

"It's Ms. Slater." With that Betty took the phone out of DJ's hand.

"Hello, Wilhelmina?" She said tentatively into the receiver.

"Good to know that you're smart enough to have your minion filtering phone calls right now." Wilhelmina said harshly.

"DJ is not my minion. He's my nephew—I mean Daniel's nephew." She said quickly correcting herself. DJ just smiled next to her.

"It seems like you're already thinking like the next Mrs. Daniel Meade. Although, I guess it's probably going to be Mrs. Meade-Suarez." Wilhelmina said in her normal Wilhelmina way.

"Daniel and I just started dating." She said in her defense.

"Yet according to London morning television you're already living together. You do move fast Suarez."

"You saw that? You didn't provide any of that material to London Morning?" Betty asked.

"Why does everybody think so little of me? I am not that petty." Betty wanted to correct her but thought better of it.

"Nobody who knows you will believe those lies. Even if you did get your last position at Mode because those bathroom oral sex rumors were true doesn't mean you're any less qualified to do your job. I was your boss too. Who you sleep with, has nothing to do with your skill set and although it took you four years to learn how to dress properly you know what you're doing when it comes to putting a magazine together. Although, I do wonder what you see in that idiot. However, his complete willingness to make a fool of himself to defend your honor may have something to do with it."

"I'm with him because I love him. He punched the idiot out because he loves me." She said defending Daniel. She should probably call him and let him know that she wasn't really mad at him anymore.

"Love isn't known for its common sense. No matter what anybody says about you, you know who you are. That is something that I have always admired about you. Do not let anybody else tell you you're not good enough for your job. I would suggest you tell all of them to go fuck themselves, but you are too good of a person for such vulgarity. Prove them wrong by doing your job to the best of your ability. When they see your first issue, they will all know why you were hired for the job at 26." Before Betty could register the fact that Wilhelmina Slater was giving her a pep talk the line was dead. Seconds later she heard Daniel's ring tone playing.

"Oh good, I'm so happy you picked up instead of DJ again. I was worried you were still pissed off at me."

"I'm not mad at you. I've done some equally stupid things. I'm sure Amanda told you about the water slide incident last year and remember the e-mail argument a couple of days ago with Matt." She said trying to make her boyfriend feel better.

"Good point." Daniel said with a happy tone.

"Something bizarre just happened."

"What could be weirder than this morning?" Daniel said with a laugh.

"Wilhelmina just called me." She said still wrapping her mind around what happened a few moments earlier

"Did she say anything to you?" She could instantly hear the worry in his voice.

"She just gave me a pep talk. She told me not to listen to what everybody was saying about me and just focus on doing my job."

"Oh god, the world is ending. I think that's the third sign of the apocalypse." Daniel said with a laugh before continuing.

"She is right. You are the one who always told me not to pay attention to what people say about me. You should do the same." She smiled at that. Just then, Penelope walked into the office.

"Hey, I have a meeting. I'll see you tonight. I love you." She said quickly not wanting to end her phone call.

"I love you too. I promise not to punch anyone else out." With that, she began her very fun PR meeting that focused more on promoting the first issue than what happened today. Betty couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.

**To be continued.**


	16. London Edition I

**Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.**

**Special note: **I cannot do accents. Blame it on the voice recognition software. Therefore, the sections in this chapter from Christina's perspective will be written in standard English although hopefully not Americanized English.

**

* * *

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I Got a Story for You My Friend: London Edition

**I**

Christina arrived to the Lindsey Publishing building a little before seven that Monday night. After dealing with a receptionist that made Amanda seemed like a Rhodes Scholar, she found her way to the London hub offices to see her best friend confidently discussing the next issue with her employees.

Betty seems so different now compared to the poncho-wearing girl Christina first met four years ago and it was not just the lack of braces or the new wardrobe. She had this new aura of self-confidence that was missing before. This was important considering the guy next to Betty was rolling his eyes the entire time.

Daniel already told her many of the things going on at Betty's new office when he called her Saturday, including certain angry and bitter coworkers who were jealous of Betty because she got the corner office that she always deserved. Then again, similar rumors were floating around Mode before Christina left for her new life in Europe. The green eyed monster was a universal constant.

Christina was supposed to come last weekend to visit Betty and her new boyfriend but William had an earache and there was no way she was leaving her baby boy alone even if she trusted Stewart to take care of his son. Things with her husband were complicated at the moment. She sold her soul and body to Wilhelmina to pay for his necessary medical treatment now after everything he relapses. She was keeping that information to herself. There was no need to burden Betty with anything else.

She thought it would be weeks before she would get to see Betty, until late Saturday when a slightly tipsy Daniel called her and begged her to come see her best friend. He was worried that all the name calling and dirty business of the publishing industry was getting to Betty, along with the press camped outside their house. If Daniel was willing to call her, she knew something was really wrong. He sweetened the deal by offering to feature her as the hot new designer of the month in the next issue of Mode UK. How could she resist that offer?

She was concerned anyway. They did have tabloids where she lived and she already knew the latest gossip. She knew things were bad enough that when she tried to call Betty Friday her boyfriend's nephew picked up instead. Christina wondered if her best friend could take being part of a very public couple. Part of Christina thought that was why Betty resisted her feelings for Daniel for so long. The British tabloids were 100 times more ruthless than Suzuki and company could ever be. By midday Friday, Christina stopped paying attention to the news because she got tired of hearing the ridiculous things that they were saying about her best friend. Really, you'd think they could come up with something more plausible and original then Betty stealing a dying woman's husband.

Christina knew for a while that Betty and Daniel were more than just friends. She was Betty's best friend and Daniel was Betty's other half. Christina realized that Betty had feelings for Daniel by the end of Betty's second month at Mode because her friend would always come down to the closet all the time with some sort of Daniel related issue. Even when Betty was completely infatuated with Henry, Gio, or Matt the conversation would always turn to Daniel. As much as her friend protested, Christina knew that Betty was in love with Daniel. She was just happy that those two finely got together.

Instead of interrupting the meeting, Christina sat in the back watching her friend interact with her staff. For a moment, she thought she saw Daniel's old drinking mate who was always trying to convince various models to sleep with him during their fittings. She immediately dismissed the idea because the person in front of her was dressed in a suit and tie. Also, this individual was the only one in the room not acting like a bloody pratt.

Minutes later just as Betty was about to break up the meeting, she finally noticed Christina standing off to the side. In seconds, she was trapped in a hug by her best friend.

"What are you doing here?" Betty asked her excitedly not letting go.

"I'm doing an article and photo shoot for Mode UK this week. Your boyfriend wanted it to be a surprise." She said smiling.

"I am surprised. I am so glad you are here. Did you bring William and Stewart?" As soon as her husband's name was mentioned, her smile faded a little. Because her friend had so much going on, Christina did not mention that her marriage was coming undone again. She would tell Betty when the time was right.

"William is with my assistant/nanny at the hotel. We can stop by after dinner, otherwise I will bring him over tomorrow during a break. He misses his Aunt Betty. If things were different you may have been his sister in law." Christina said referring to the fact that for the first few months of her son's life they all thought he was Daniel's little brother. "Then again that would mean that you would be related to the devil herself, Wilhelmina Slater." Christina said smiling.

"She is not that bad. She actually called me Friday afternoon to tell me not to listen to what anybody is saying about me." Betty told her as they walked into the main lobby of the _London Hub_ offices.

"She gave you a pep talk?" Christina paused for a moment as Betty nodded her head yes. "I guess hell did freeze over. If anybody knows about not caring what other people think, it would be her. How are you holding up with the bloody press dragging your name through the mud?"

"That is the least of our problems. The tabloids are more focused on the father of Amanda's unborn child and other Hartley paternity issues right now. You have no idea what's gone on this weekend." Betty said with a sigh.

"I thought Matt was the father. That's what she said when she was here in April." She told her friend quickly as Betty walked back into the conference room to pick up her things.

"It's complicated. Did everybody know Amanda was pregnant before me? Never mind, I do not want to know. I have to take care of a few things and then I'll meet you in the office." Betty said as they passed by the man who looked exactly like Daniel's former friend.

"Who is your beautiful friend Betty?" The one staff member who was treating Betty with some respect asked.

"I can't believe you forgot about Christina, Becks. She was the one who was dressing up the models that you were drooling over. Now she is one of the hottest new designers in Europe." Betty said with a quick smile. Christina was trying to cover-up her shock.

"I meet so many people in my line of work I tend to forget the specifics. Betty, do you still want to meet at 10:00 AM tomorrow to Discuss ideas for my first photo essay for the August issue?" Becks asked being much more polite than she remembered.

"That should work. Could you e-mail Betsy or DJ to make sure you are on my schedule?" Betty told him civilly.

"I'll do that. I am sure Daniel has plans for you tonight so I won't keep you any longer. Tell my friend not to do anything I wouldn't do." With that, the American player was gone but not before Betty mumbled under her breath, "there isn't anything you wouldn't do."

"That was Becks? What is he doing at a non fashion magazine?" Christina asked in complete shock.

"Becks, is the brand new photojournalist hired for my magazine by Lindsey without consulting me. Did you know that Daniel's former best friend did several articles on the war in Afghanistan for National Explorer magazine? He just happened to publish his non fashion works under a different name."

"I was not aware that he knew how to do anything but hit the shutter button on a camera. We are talking about the same idiot who used to bet your current boyfriend the grand total of a dollar to see who could sleep with the hottest girl at fashion week?"

"Unfortunately, yes. People change. If Daniel is not that person anymore, then it is possible for Becks to no longer be the person he was four years ago. Actually, he may have never been that person. In all fairness, I didn't believe it until Daniel e-mailed me his portfolio of non skinny girl images."

"You are so optimistic. Do not ever lose that." Christina said as she followed Betty to her office.

"Besides it's good for Daniel to have another guy friend in the area considering everything that's going on right now." Betty said, as she walked into her office to put down the bundle of papers that she was holding, before grabbing another packet.

"I guess being accused of cheating on your dead wife on national television would be difficult for anyone to deal with." Christina told her.

"That's the least of our trouble. You remember when I told you about DJ showing up on our front door a week and a half ago without explanation? We found out why Friday night and it is complicated. Then again, you should probably already know that DJ is no longer an only child. How could you not know this? Various versions of the truth have been discussed on every channel and blog in America and the UK at the very least." Betty's irritation was obvious as she spoke this.

"I stopped watching the news after they started accusing my best friend of sleeping with a married man. Besides I wouldn't trust anything said by people who would say such vicious lies." Christina said squeezing her friend's hand.

"Thank you." Betty said with a tear in her eye. "Let me give these to Richard and then I will tell you everything that happened this weekend."

"You can tell me on the way to dinner. We are supposed to meet your boyfriend at eight."

"Trust me I'll be back as quickly as possible." Betty said as she ran out the door.

**

* * *

**

June 4, 2010 6:32 PM Greenwich mean time

Honestly, by this point in his relationship with his older sister Daniel shouldn't be shocked by anything she does. This is the same person who faked her death and then popped up two years later as a woman at fashion week solely to get revenge on their father. Therefore, it really should not surprise him at all his sister would show up to England with his on again off again longtime lover and a five-year-old daughter that Daniel knew nothing about. This whole stunt screamed Alexis.

He knew that Alexis West-Hartley existed; Daniel just had no idea that she was his niece. It was not that he was completely unaware of the possibility because he knew of his sibling's very complicated relationship with the designer. He even knew that Briana cut all ties with Meade Publishing because she initially blamed Bradford for Alex's 'death'. Unlike everyone else she didn't think the ski accident was an accident. At Fashion Week 2006, the year before Alex announced her re-birth to the world as Alexis, Daniel asked the recluse designer directly if her daughter Alexis was his brother's child. She denied it and told him through teary eyes that Alex would never do something like that to Jordan. It was a lie. Now all these years later he wonders whom Brianna was trying to protect.

He is not even that upset finding out about another family member he didn't know about. It was starting to become a little too normal in his family. Daniel is mostly upset about the fact he found out about his brand new niece via the Google alerts that Candy set up to monitor the entire situation. The only thing making this slightly more tolerable is that Briana agreed to give Mode UK the exclusive on why she kept the paternity of her daughter a secret for so long. Daniel was looking forward to reading that article.

Daniel was currently waiting for an angry phone call from his mother when she found out about this. Then again, she probably already knew. For the last week, his mom has been asking him questions about his sister's long and sorted relationship with Brianna. Now Daniel knew why.

"I guess I should thank you. Due to everyone finding out you fathered Alexis West Hartley before gender reassignment surgery nobody is going to care about my relationship with Betty or if I cheated on Molly before she died because they are trying to figure out your crazy relationship with Brianna. Then again, because you could not keep your dick to yourself when you still had one everyone will think I am the same way. Unlike you, dad, and mom I actually believe in monogamy and the sanctity of marriage. Thank god the media did not know about Tyler otherwise we would all be completely FUCKED." Daniel yelled at his sister in the privacy of his office.

He should be happy that Diane offered to take his brand new baby niece to her office while Sumreen had the exclusive interview of a lifetime. He really did not want an innocent little child to hear him yelling at her other mommy for being a complete ass.

"Will you please come down?" His sister asked him.

"This is calm. I haven't tried to punch you yet." Daniel said in an icy cold voice. "I just found out my sister had a child I knew nothing about from the internet. I think I have a right to be upset about what you are putting DJ and everyone else through. Although I must admit, it was a wonderful shot of mother and child together that they probably have on every single web page in this country and several others by now. At lease, I now know why DJ showed up at my house completely unannounced eight days ago. I would have freaked out too if I found out I had a sibling that I didn't know about." Daniel said slamming his hands on his desk for emphasis.

"You did freak out when you found out about Tyler. Daniel, you attacked him and then you proceeded not to talk to mom for a few weeks unless it involved conversations about the girl you got pregnant." Alexis spat back just as bitterly.

"First of all, I attacked Tyler before I found out he was my half brother. It doesn't count because I thought he was mom's much younger lover at the time." Daniel said in his defense.

"Like that is any better." Alexis scoffed at her brother.

"I'm sure you took things so well considering the fact that you were aware that you slept with your half-brothers aunt. You two have been sleeping together off and on for over 20 years. This family is so incestuous. Also, I did not get Amanda pregnant, Matt did." Daniel said that last part as an afterthought.

"You're right about this family being incestuous." Alexis said rolling her eyes. "DJ doesn't know about having an almost five year old sister. I did not even know until last week when the girl you did not get pregnant called me and asked me if I knew I knocked up her boyfriend's Aunt Briana. Briana has been keeping Lexis a secret from everyone. If I knew earlier I would have told you." Alexis said to her brother in an angry voice.

"DJ doesn't know?" Daniel asked his sister quickly as he walked out the door to his assistant's desk.

"That's why I was coming here to tell him in person. I didn't want him to accidentally find out. It's too late for that." Alexis said with a sigh as she followed him out of the room.

"Maybe it's not. DJ is with Betty at _London Hub_. He is her intern this summer. DJ's other biological mom was very good friends with Betty's new boss. The entire _London Hub_ office is on media blackout after what happened this morning."

"Did you get a hold of Betty yet?" Daniel asked Candy quickly.

"According to Richard, who I think is just a little upset that Betty got the job he wanted; Betty, DJ, and the creative Director Dominique Marcel are at the Friday editors meeting. It was supposed to end at 6:30 but it's running late." Candy responded.

"Candy, I need you to run over to Lindsey Publishing and get DJ. Bring him to your house. The vultures don't know you so you should be able to get out of their unseen. I suggest taking the back door. Make sure he does not check his e-mail or any other media until we get to your house. Take his cell phone if you have to. I will call Betty and let her know what's going on. We will meet you there in 45 minutes as soon as we lose the press."

"Considering your acting the same way Monique did, when she made me pick up her then new boyfriend's little sister from school when their parents were killed, I am not going to ask you any questions. I will send you a text message when we are both safely in a cab on the way to my house. DJ loves me, so he won't ask any questions." Candy said grabbing her purse.

"Thank you. Don't even tell him about Alexis being here."

"Got it, boss." Candy said as she walked to the elevator.

"What are you doing?" Alexis asked him quickly following Daniel into his office again.

"Protecting my nephew, unlike you." Daniel spat bitterly. "If he was already freaking out about something less significant than finding out about Alexis junior then I don't want to see what will happen if he finds out about his new half sister via Twitter." Daniel said as he walked back into his office to get his briefcase and Blackberry.

"Good point." Alexis said following behind him.

"I want to know what the hell is going on Alexis. Why did you sign over custody of DJ to Betty and me? Why have you been lying to us for the last week about your whereabouts? Where were you when you called me yesterday?" Daniel asked Alexis looking her directly in the eye.

"Maybe we should wait until we meet up with Betty. It will be easier if I tell you both at the same time." By her demeanor, Daniel could tell that was an excuse. Alexis makes a lot of excuses.

"I'm tired of waiting Alexis. I just want to know what the hell is going on. Betty and her sister are so close they tell each other everything. I know we will never have that type of relationship but…" Daniel stopped abruptly because he was not able to finish.

"Do you really want to know what's going on?" Alexis asked and in a near whisper.

"Yes." Daniel said just as quietly.

"I may be dying." Okay, he could not have heard her right. That was not possible.

"What?" Daniel asked in complete shock.

"I'm in stage three heart failure, I was calling you from the Cleveland Clinic, where I was trying to find a way to make sure I live long enough to see both my children graduate from high school." Daniel fell down onto the couch, not really knowing how to respond to that. At least now, he understood why DJ ran away. He wanted to run away too.

* * *

"The heart failure was caused by cardiomyopathy. It's genetic in this case. The same disease was a contributing factor in Bradford's death. Alexis didn't really know about it until she got to France. She finally went to her doctor because she was tired all the time even though she was not working anymore. Do you remember that she gained a little weight before she left? Apparently that was the reason why." Betty said quietly as she tried to tell her friend everything that happened this weekend.

She was personally thinking cancer not heart failure given the way DJ was acting. This was probably just as bad. After things calmed down Friday, she did a ton of research on cardiomyopathy. It was usually easier for Betty to deal with a situation if she knew all the facts. This could be really bad.

"I'm trying to forget about that entire time considering she tried to kill me and framed her brother. Not that I don't understand her desire to kill the spawn of Satan herself." Christina said joking before becoming serious again. "Poor Daniel," Christina said with genuine sympathy. "I remember finding out about Stewart being sick. It must be hard for him even though he and Alexis are not close." Betty could hear the genuine sympathy in her friend's voice.

"Daniel is dealing with it the way Daniel deals with things. He cried Friday night once it was just me and him. He stayed strong as we told DJ about everything at Candy's house. He was the one who got DJ to come back for pizza with the munchkin and me. She is so adorable. He even stayed strong during the extremely uncomfortable phone call with Mrs. Meade late Friday night and the even more uncomfortable video conference Saturday afternoon our time. However, both times once we got home Daniel just fell apart. I haven't seen him cry that much sense Molly died." Betty said this part with a whisper.

"I am sure you made him feel better." Christina said this with a wink.

"We're not having sex yet." Betty said quickly. Technically that was true, unless you considered oral sex to be sex.

"I didn't say that. Wait you're not shagging yet?" Christina asked giving her an absolutely shocked look.

"Daniel wants us to wait for a while." Betty said in response.

"I find that hard to believe." Christina scoffed. "When I was in New York that boy would sleep with anything in a skirt. Do you want to wait?"

"We've been friends for so long it's hard getting used to the fact that we are more than friends. I think we both need a little time to adjust the fact that we are together as a romantic couple before we do anything else. This is not going to be a short-term relationship. This is it. In light of everything else going on I think it's a good decision." Betty said finally admitting to someone that Daniel was the one.

"You're right it's best if you two take things slowly. Though, I don't see your boyfriend as the snuggling only type." She knew Christina was referring to Daniel's old behavior like earlier.

"Neither did I, but Daniel has always been able to surprise me. I think he just enjoys spending time together. Though, we have been doing more than kissing but not that." Betty started bushing profusely as she told her friend this.

"What have you been doing?" She loved Christina to death but she enjoyed talking about sex just a little too much. She is personally surprised Amanda didn't tell Christina all about the ice cream sex fiasco. Great, even she was calling it ice cream sex now.

"Things," Betty said taking a drink of her bottle water.

The only thing they haven't done yet was traditional sex involving actual penetration and at this point she was slightly shocked about that. They did a lot of various not sex activities when DJ was forced to spend time with his mother and brand new sister Sunday. She has known for a while that Daniel's normal coping mechanism for dealing with problems is sex. She was perfectly willing to help Daniel deal. Although this time, she did make him talk to her Sunday afternoon after Daniel spent half of Saturday secluded in a bar with Becks.

"Fine, ruin my fun. I have to live vicariously through someone," Christina said quickly

"You are a married woman. Why do you have to live vicariously through me?" Betty noticed that Christina flinched the moment she asked the question.

"I'm a married woman with a child and a brand new business. I don't have time for fun vicarious or otherwise." Christina responded a little too quickly. It almost sounded like an excuse. What was your friend not telling her?

"How is Daniel's nephew dealing with everything?" Betty knew then her friend was hiding something from her but she did not press. The obvious subject change told her that.

She was not sure if Christina was actually concerned with how DJ was handling everything. DJ and Christina did not get along during his time in New York but that may be because he destroyed one of her original designs with silly string during the time Betty was on vacation trying to find herself.

"Badly." That was the understatement of the year. There was lots of screaming, yelling, and throwing things involved. DJ called his mother, Brianna, and his new little sister various expletives in French before running out of Candy's apartment. Brianna and her daughter just happen to be fluent in French. According to Daniel, Briana's biological mother was from Gabon and her first language was French. Briana apparently passed this onto Lexis. Lexis started crying hysterically before DJ was even out the door. Betty was trying to get baby Lexis to stop crying with the promise of pizza while Daniel went to calm down his nephew wherever he was hiding.

"I'm surprised DJ was willing to spend both today and yesterday with his mom and brand new sister." Betty said to her friend in all honesty. "DJ ran away because one of Alexis's doctors accidentally left a voicemail that DJ found right before his school's field trip to London. The doctor said just a little too much and DJ being the bright young man that he is came to the right conclusion about his mom being sick. Apparently, Alexis was keeping the entire thing from him to protect him like my mom did with me. He completely freaked out, which is why DJ showed up on our front door last week and has refused to leave."

Betty understood why DJ ran away probably better than anyone else. Although Betty did not run away to another country when she found out her mom was hiding the fact she was very sick with cancer, she hopped on the subway by herself and spent the day at the Central Park Zoo and F.A.O. Schwartz. It was better than her sister's coping mechanism of getting pregnant on prom night.

"Pour baby. I know the boy has already lost one parent." Christina said sympathetically.

"I think that's what he's afraid of most along with being sent back to his grandparents that he hates. Fifteen is normally hard enough without this sort of stuff. Because of this stupid custody arrangement with DJ's grandparents, DJ can't go with Alexis while she is receiving treatment in the states."

Betty thinks that is half the problem. Having a sick parent is horrible but being forced to stay away just makes it even harder to deal with. The added stuff with the brand new sister was just the metaphorical cherry on top.

"So that's why you now have temporary custody of a 15 year old? Is there anything that can be done about that?" She remembered telling her friend about that last week when she canceled coming over because William was sick. Of course, Betty left out the ice cream sex thing. It was bad enough that supposedly her father knew about it.

"Right now it's the only option. Even though Daniel is mad at Alexis, he is still going to help any way he can. I feel the same way. Brianna is going to try to petition the courts to give her temporary custody so that DJ can be with his half sister. However, that's only if DJ wants her to do it. At this point, I'm not sure DJ is going to want that. Things are really complicated." Betty said with a sigh. At least she now understood why DJ was asking her all those questions about sick parents.

"So what else happened this weekend? You mentioned something about questioning the paternity of Amanda's baby."

"I think that's a conversation for later." Betty said quickly not wanting to talk about the latest thing Matt's mom was doing to ruin his relationship with Amanda. It was best to focus on the real crisis.

**

* * *

**

June 4, 2010 8:02 PM Greenwich mean time

Daniel finally caught up with DJ about a block from their actual house in a little park nearby. Thankfully it looked like the reporters decide to stork someone else that night or maybe they still thought they were all still at Mode.

"I would ask you if you were okay but I know the answer to that question." Daniel said as he sat next to his nephew.

"I'm not going back. I am definitely not apologizing to her." DJ said angrily in English. That was a good sign. When he is really mad his nephew switches to French like earlier at Candy's house.

"I understand being mad at Alexis. Your mom has a tendency to do things like this a lot. You do remember that she faked her death for two years because she thought that was easier for us to take than her going through gender reassignment surgery. It is how she shows she cares about us in her warp little mine. Really, her not telling us about being sick and showing up with a five year old is the same thing. It's how she shows she loves us." DJ nodded quickly.

"Are you mad at her?" DJ asked him.

"I am absolutely furious, but according to my girlfriend that's perfectly normal with family. Again, it's another way to show that you care. Alexis told me herself that she was keeping the heart failure thing from you to protect you." DJ scoffed at that, as if he thought his mother was crazy. Daniel didn't completely go by Alexis's logic either.

"What about my brand new sister?" That was the cherry on top of this entire situation, Daniel thought to himself.

"I think it was a surprise for her too. Remember to actually use a condom." Daniel said as an afterthought.

The fact that his sister had two children when she never wanted to have any irritated the hell out of Daniel. He wanted to be a dad more than anything in the world and wasn't yet. Alexis was a reluctant mother due to her own reckless behavior when she was still a he. It wasn't fair.

"I already know that." DJ said snidely.

"Apparently your mother didn't when she was still technically your father. Even though it will be hypocritical for me to say this, you probably shouldn't do anything for a while. I can tell you that I value my relationships with Molly and Betty a lot more than any of the meaningless sexual encounters I had before. Even sex with Amanda was better once we were actually friends. How did this become a safe sex conversation?" Daniel asked his nephew in puzzlement.

"This conversation occurred because my mom has no concept of contraception." DJ said smiling just as Daniel received a text message from his girlfriend. He could not help but laugh at her message.

"Betty had to promise your new little sister pizza to get her to stop crying. She wants to know if you want to come."

"Will mom be there?" Daniel quickly typed in DJ's question and sent it to Betty. His girlfriend quickly responded with no.

"It's just going to be the four of us and maybe Candy if that's okay." DJ smiled as soon as he mentions Candy. Daniel was pretty sure his nephew had a crush on his assistant.

"Candy can come." Yes, that smile screams crush along with the double entendre.

"Just remember that Candy is 25." He warned his nephew. He will have to talk to Candy later.

"You're almost 10 years older than Aunt Betty." He didn't see the point of correcting DJ because DJ has referred to Betty by that title since he was 13 they just never told Betty.

"I didn't try to get with Betty when she was 15 and still in her New Kids on the Block T shirt phase or was it Nsync or Backstreet Boys by that point. There is a very big difference between an almost 36 year old dating a 26-year-old then a 25 year old with a 15 year old. In the State's we call it jailbait or pedophilia. So are we going to have pizza with your little sister?"

"Fine," DJ said in acquiescence before they left the park.

* * *

"Daniel's nephew has a crush on Daniel's assistant?" Christina asked Betty as they waited for Daniel to show up at the restaurant. They barely survived the gantlet of press coming into the restaurant. She decided to take the opportunity to plug her next show in London in August. She learned this wonderful technique from Amanda. That should keep the vultures away from her for the next few days.

"That's the only thing you got from that conversation?" Betty asked her friend as she took a drink of her glass of wine as they patiently waited for Daniel to show up. Apparently, his last meeting of the day ran late.

"Yes." She said with a smile.

"Okay, yes DJ really does have a crush on Daniel's assistant. It's adorable the way he acted around her at the restaurant. He even pulled out her chair. Then again, it was adorable how DJ acted around Lexis. He is already going into big brother mode around her. I have pictures." Betty said as she passed Christina her cell phone. On the screen were adorable pictures of brother and sister playing Wii together and another image of the two hugging at the restaurant.

"That may have something to do with the fact that he now has somebody to talk to in French behind our back that understands exactly what he's going through. I really should have kept up with those French classes." Daniel said as he took the seat next to Betty with a young lady with dark hair taking the other empty chair.

"Actually, it may be a good idea for you to work on your language skills now that you are in Europe. I think it will help with the designers that say nasty things behind your back. I can look into it tomorrow." The young lady said.

"Could you see if you can find someone that will take both of us? I really do not want DJ translating what Richard says behind my back anymore. I'm learning all sorts of French curse words." Betty stated.

"Got it, I'll call Betsy tomorrow to see what times are available on both your schedules." The young woman stated quickly.

"Thank you. Sorry Christina, I forgot to introduce you. This is Daniel's wonderful new assistant Candace but everyone calls her Candy." Christina was actually surprised that Betty did not seem jealous of Daniel's beautiful assistant. "I'm only here because Daniel owes me dinner for keeping an advertiser this morning from throwing shoe samples at him."

"So you're the girl that Daniels nephew has a crush on?" Christina asked taking another drink.

"Yes but with him it's adorable with Daniel's friend Backs it's creepy." Candy said with a shiver.

"He's not that bad." Daniel said defending his friend right as he leaned over and kissed Betty on the lips. Christina was sure she saw at least seven flashbulbs go off.

"So you actually want me to date him?" Candy asked her boss.

"No way in hell. He knows everyone at Mode is off limits; otherwise, I will make a call to Alexis's surgeon. I'll remind him tomorrow when we meet for lunch." Daniel said protectively.

"That threat makes no sense." Christina said out loud.

"I'm referring to the doctor responsible for her gender reassignment surgery." Daniel responded.

"Good threat." Betty said with a smile.

"I got it from your father. He called me this morning. There's no way we can get out of staying at your house this week when we go back to New York." Daniel said quickly as he motioned for a waiter.

"Oh God, he didn't call about the Amanda thing did he?" Betty asked him quickly taking a very big drink of her wine.

"No, he already knew about that entire thing. Amanda told him everything in March."

"Why was I the last one to know?" Betty asked Daniel.

"It was Amanda's secret to tell and she didn't want you to know." Daniel said squeezing her hand and kissing her on the cheek.

"I get that. My dad knew and is still okay with us?" Betty asked with puzzlement that Christina did not understand.

"He was just happy it wasn't you." Daniel said with a smile that made Christina even more confused.

"What Amanda thing?" Christina asked wondering what the hell they were talking about.

"I'll tell you later." Betty said as she played with her wine glass.

**To be continued.**


	17. New York Edition

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

**

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I Got a Story for You My Friend: New York Edition

Marc was so exhausted by the time he got out of the cab Monday night, he could barely figure out how big of a tip to give the cab driver. If it wasn't for Monique's fiscal responsibility policy he would be exiting a town car right now. Although she wasn't tightfisted enough to disapprove of him coming back to New York solely for the purpose of going to Wilhelmina's wedding the next day. He must admit he was happy at the thought of sleeping in his own bed tonight even if he would be alone. Maybe that was a good thing. The last few days in DC with Cliff were pleasant if not confusing and he had a lot to think about.

He was supposed to come back this morning, instead he spent the morning on the Hill supervising the congressional shoot because Megan needed to be across town finalizing a deal to use the National Zoo and others Smithsonian Properties this week. Thank the gods of fashion that Claire Meade and Meade Publications give obscene amounts of money every year to the Smithsonian. Cliff already had dozens of ideas using the zoo and the sculpture garden at the Smithsonian that would make everybody forget about the Ben Franklin room and Isabella. Marc was just happy that Monique's cousin Tamika at the State Department told them about Isabella shooting the day before, even though her boss told her not to.

If he had more fun looking at the pandas in 100° heat with Cliff Saturday than in his entire relationship with Troy, he didn't say anything. That realization hit him like a bucket of cold water this morning, when Troy ran up to him in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton like a puppy whose owner returned after being away for the weekend. Even he notice Cliff's role of the eyes during that encounter. Marc had so much fun with Cliff running around DC trying to find an alternate location for the wedding shoot that he completely forgot that he even had a boyfriend.

He purposely sent his boyfriend away with Megan for the entire congressional shoot giving her some ridiculous excuse about Cliff demanding that Troy be kept away from him as part of his contract. It was partially true.

"Why don't I believe you?" Megan said giving him an annoyed look. "Are you sure it wasn't you he wanted to stop annoying him. You are the ex boyfriend who cheated on him. I have no problem whatsoever with you doing the zoo thing." How the hell did she know about him cheating on Cliff? Then again, she is the biggest gossip at Mode for a reason.

"I'm in charge of the DC shoots and I get to say who does what. I was up until 2:00 AM working out the specifics with Cliff for today after spending most of yesterday scouting locations because a certain former colleague of yours fucked us over by going to Isabella. I'm not going to leave you with my story boards just so you can take over after I put so much effort into it. Also, I am not going to be back until late tomorrow and you will be doing the shoot at the National Zoo alone. You need the time to get familiar with the place and come up with ideas. You are shooting wedding dresses at a zoo, so how hard can it be? Finally, Cliff actually likes me and we work well together. He just happens to find my current boyfriend as irritating as my best friend's now deceased dog. You owe him because you refer to him as my chubby lover, when we were dating behind his back. He's my friend now. How do you know about the cheating thing?" Marc asked, already knowing what most likely happened.

"Your best friend has a big mouth and I was at the party too." That was better than his theory that Monique was already conspiring to get him with Cliff again.

"Why do you despise Amanda so much?" Their feud was becoming so bad the two women needed to be kept apart at all times.

"I don't. I just think Matt can do better than the brainless Barbie doll." Megan said as she checked her blackberry again.

"I guess that is why you manipulated Matt into breaking up with her when she was pregnant." Marc said angrily. He knew all about the dirty details of that incident, including dealing with a hysterical Amanda for a few weeks.

"I didn't know she was pregnant. She probably put a hole in the condom herself. I had to spend several months at Player because of that stunt. Let's just move on. I will keep your boy Troy occupied this afternoon running around the national zoo and the Smithsonian prepping for the wedding shoot." Megan said leaving him behind. Marc was surprised she acquiesced so quickly.

Capitol Hill was absolute chaos. There were 120 outfits, 10 models, six different locations within the complex and two photographers. The cherry on top was the family values republicans coming by looking longingly at the models. Yes, there were some democrats too because apparently scantily clad women was the great equalizer when it comes to the good ole boys club of Congress. He wasn't surprised.

This group of distinguished gentleman included Willi's daddy dearest who was probably looking for the third Mrs. Slater among girls who were younger than his granddaughter. Actually, Marc was pretty sure one model went to the same French boarding school at the same time as his only granddaughter.

Marc was highly irritated by the fact that Wilhelmina's father had time in his busy schedule to come down and look at the models in various states of dress, but not to attend his daughter's wedding tomorrow. Marc did not understand why Mr. Slater couldn't miss some stupid vote. Then again, he didn't bother to see his daughter when she was in a coma because of the primaries, so Marc shouldn't be surprised.

He was just about to tell Mr. Slater to go to hell, in a very polite way, when Cliff suggested he check on the other photo Shoot before he managed to get Mode kicked out. Even though Cliff's suggestion was probably made for the sake of not losing another location, he needed to check on the other photo shoot going on simultaneously in the capitol complex. There is nothing like business suits and statues of old politicians to sell magazines. Unfortunately, the other photographer was going in a completely different direction, doing things with the statues that was disrespectful to say the least. Wilhelmina would have killed somebody if this happened on one of her shoots. It took two extra hours to finish up that particular spread after Marc found out what was happening. This resulted in having to take a local train back to Manhattan 2 hours later than planned. He didn't even get to see Cliff again because he was dealing with other issues on the other side of the building.

It was after 10 when he arrived at his apartment to the sounds of Amanda crying and breaking things. He just barely missed the shoe being thrown at his head when he walked into the door.

"You are the worst best friend ever." Amanda said as a pair of next season's West-Hartley shoes hit him in the stomach. "This is all your fault." Amanda said as she threw something else at his head. Marc barely missed it. If it wasn't for all the practice he acquired when he was Wilhelmina's assistant he would have a concussion right now. She had a tendency to throw things.

"What did I do wrong? I promise to make it up to you as soon as you stop throwing shoes at me. You shouldn't hurt innocent shoes like that." Marc said, as if he was approaching a wild animal ready to pounce at any moment. A pregnant Amanda was just as dangerous. Amanda was unstable before the pregnancy hormones. It was 1000 times worse now that she was pregnant and Betty was not around to keep her from hurling things at people's heads.

"Don't you dare play innocent with me, Marc. You have always loved Wilhelmina more than me. I hate you." Amanda said in tears as she threw a pillow at him.

"Amanda, don't hurt Marc. This isn't good for the baby. I brought you more ice cream." Marc heard Matt's half-brother say, holding two containers of regular Ben and Jerry's Phish food. Amanda was preoccupied enough with the ice cream that he was able to get out of the apartment unscathed. Within seconds, he felt himself being pulled into Betty's former apartment by a worried Matt and Monique.

"Why the hell did you not warn me that was going to happen?" Marc asked the pair standing in front of him. "We have a system for when Amanda is having a code 12 pregnancy moment. This was a code 13. She wasn't that upset about me missing her doctor's appointment, was she? I was going to try to get back when the appointment was move to this afternoon, but we had problems with one of the shoots." Marc wondered out loud having no idea why Amanda was this upset. She was not even that upset when Daniel announced that he was moving to London. Amanda actually helped him pack.

"We tried but your phone is currently in the possession of your ex boyfriend and I didn't have your Blackberry number. You left it at Congress. Don't even mention the disaster that was the doctor's appointment this afternoon. What happened probably was your fault. Thanks to you, my girlfriend is not speaking to me. Actually she would rather spend time with my half-brother who was recently released from rehab." Matt told him in a cold voice filled with anger in irritation. Then again, Marc would be upset too if his significant other preferred to spend time with a crazy would be murderer.

"It wasn't Marc's fault, completely. Amanda is mad at you because of your own stupidity. Wilhelmina will use any piece of information to its fullest. We don't even know if Marc said anything to Wilhelmina yet. I thought I told you last year to stop blaming other people for your mistakes." Monique said in Marc's defense.

"I'm standing right here. What did I supposedly tell Wilhelmina that led to my best friend throwing shoes at me?" Marc said indignantly.

"Did you mentioned to Wilhelmina anything whatsoever that would give her any indication that Amanda had a doctor's appointment Monday." Monique asked him calmly.

"I wouldn't tell Wilhelmina something like that. She doesn't like me talking about my other friends or having a life outside of her. She is getting better but we don't exactly have slumber parties where we paint our nails and gossip about guys. I did tell her Friday that even if I got back in time Monday to help her with last minute wedding stuff, I would probably have to go to Amanda's next ultrasound instead. She was not happy." Even he realized it was his fault even though he didn't know what happened yet. "What did Wilhelmina do?" Marc asked with a sigh as Matt continued to glare daggers at him.

"I told you it was his fault." Matt said angrily.

"Stop talking Matt. You are responsible for your own choices." Monique said glaring at Matt with a voice that resembles Wilhelmina's angry tone. "Marc, it wasn't your fault and Wilhelmina really didn't do anything except be Wilhelmina. According to various sources, Victoria Hartley is trying to buy Isabella press with the aid of an unknown British publishing powerhouse for the sole purpose of getting back at various people including her own child. That's what the evil one and I talked about Friday morning." Monique started before Matt continued for her.

"According to my mom's personal assistant, who still likes me, Wilhelmina showed up to the tennis club Friday afternoon most likely in hopes of verifying the information. When she couldn't get anything, Wilhelmina mentioned in passing about Amanda's doctor's appointment Monday in an effort to most likely gain my mother's trust. You're the one who gave her that information." Marc really didn't care about what Matt said, he was completely furious for another reason.

"She tried to play tennis less than two months after being shot in the stomach. What was she thinking? She is going to hurt herself." Marc said in concern.

"Good to know you're such a good friend. This is Wilhelmina. You and I both know she always puts her own personal health at risk in an effort to get ahead. I hoped things would be better once she left Mode but this mess with Isabella isn't making it easier." Monique said pointing out the obvious. "We needed to know more about what's going on and to do that Wilhelmina used Amanda as the sacrificial lamb. This is what she does." Monique said in Wilhelmina's defense, sort of.

"A Willie doesn't change her horizontal stripes overnight." Marc said with a sigh before continuing. "How exactly does mommy Hartley knowing about Amanda's doctor's appointment resulted in the current situation?" Marc asked.

"Matt is going to have to tell the rest of this story. I only know what Amanda and Claire told me. I was in a team prep meeting for the second group going down to DC tomorrow for the zoo and the Smithsonian shoots. Please tell me Megan has everything under control. If Isabella scooped us again somebody is going to die." Monique said angrily.

"Everything is set for the shoot at the national zoo. We have the permits and the models. The Vera Wang, Montana So, and West-Hartley dresses are currently stored under lock and key at the Ritz Carlton Pentagon City. Again why are we staying in Virginia?"

"I got a special discount because I know the owners and the Pentagon City location was where they could accommodate us on such short notice. We are taking up two floors of the building." Monique said.

"Good point. I'll show you the proofs of everything we did today before I left after I find out why the hell Amanda is throwing really expensive shoes at me." Marc almost screamed.

"Find. It begins with the most uncomfortable doctor's visit known to man." Matt started reluctantly.

* * *

**8 hours earlier**

This was the most uncomfortable visit to the doctor Matt has ever had in his life, and he wasn't the person sitting nearly naked in front of four other people. Then again, Amanda was not exactly bothered by nudity, considering she put on the paper gown in front of everyone including Tyler who was invited to this family outing much to his personal dismay.

It was much easier to deal with his half brother when he was in rehab. Having Tyler live in his apartment was extremely uncomfortable for Matt, even though it would only last until Brianna returned from Europe tomorrow with her baby's mama. At least Tyler was taking the fact that he was little Lexis' uncle and cousin quite well after the transatlantic teleconference from hell Saturday. Tyler did have the decency to cover his eyes when Amanda stripped in front of him. Claire had to explain that Amanda was very comfortable with nudity, and that's why she had no issues getting naked in front of everyone.

Matt assumed nothing could make this uncomfortable afternoon, worse than the fact that his girlfriend's gynecologist looked exactly like his aunt's lover or whatever the hell Alexis Meade was to her. He never wanted to see his aunt again after being forced to endure uncomfortable conversations with his parents and being followed by the press for her sake. However, that wasn't going to happen because he had a dinner meeting with his aunt Wednesday.

Now the moment that truly made this the doctor's appointment miserable was his mother walking through the door with a court order, a couple of cops, and her lawyer.

"What the hell are you doing here mom?" Matt asked in anger. He remembered the bitter conversation they had Friday after she found out that Amanda used to date Daniel.

"I just want to see my new grandchild." His mother said in a sweet voice that was beyond fake. Matt will not even repeat what she said about Amanda Friday.

"You made it pretty obvious Friday that you want nothing to do with me or your grandchild. Why are you here?"

"I am looking out for my only child. You don't even know if the baby is yours. Since the other possible grandmother is here, I thought I should be here too." She said sardonically.

"This child is mine." Matt said in anger.

"You don't know that because Amanda is no better than her mother and would probably spread her legs for anyone. You also refused to get a DNA Test."

"Do you think calling me a whore is insulting, because it's not. Everybody calls me a whore. For someone who went to Brown, I thought you would be more creative. We decided against having a DNA tests until after the baby is born because the point of conception was determined to be around the first time I slept with Matt. There was almost a month between the last time I slept with Daniel and the first time I slept with Matt. There was no point risking a miscarriage to know for sure now." Amanda said stating the logical reason why Matt agreed with Daniel and Amanda not to test until later.

"Yes but what about all the people in between. Are you another possible father?" His mother said dismissively pointing to Tyler. This angered Matt.

"More like the uncle. Don't you recognize the family resemblance Victoria?" Claire answered with a wicked smile. She probably got great satisfaction in telling his mother this.

"He's your son?" His mother asked nonplused.

"He's my brother." Matt answered with a smile.

"Your brother?" His mother asked in momentary confusion.

"But he's also Daniel's brother." His mother said nothing regarding his revelation, instead, she continued on her mission to make him miserable for the sake of 'protecting' him.

"Due to Miss Tannin-Somers-Cannon's questionable reputation, I feel it's best to have the DNA test to prove the paternity of the child now. For all you know Matt she could be using you for your wealth." Victoria said as her lawyer handed the court order to the doctor.

"I don't want one penny from Matt. I'm not using this baby to keep him with me or to get a piece of the Hartley fortune. I was not even planning to tell Matt I was pregnant after he left me because he thought I was sleeping with someone else." Why did his girlfriend have to be so honest?

"You were not going to tell me?" Matt asked her realizing what she just said.

"Why should I Matt? You dumped me because you didn't trust me without even talking to me. I bet somewhere in that mind of yours you probably think this DNA test is a good idea." Amanda said.

"Amanda." He said as he grabbed her hand but she pushed him away.

"I think we should leave and give those two some time to talk. In the meantime I would like Amanda's lawyer to look over those papers." Claire said quickly pushing everyone out of the room.

"I don't have a lawyer." Amanda mumbled from the bed.

"You do now, baby. Don't worry; let me take care of everything." Claire whispered in Amanda's ear as she kissed her on the forehead.

"Matt do you trust me?" Amanda asked the moment everyone was out of the room.

"Yes." He answered quickly.

"The only person I have had sex with other then you since I developed feelings for you was Daniel. I only slept with him because you went back to Betty. I wanted to hurt her the way she hurt me. I already loved you even back then. I stopped sleeping with Daniel after you kissed me, because I realized I was fooling myself." Amanda told him in tears.

"I thought you stopped sleeping with him because he called you Betty in bed." He said repeating the story that she told him.

"That was the other reason." She said quickly.

"Even though your gynecologist believes that you conceived the baby in January you could have conceived in December." He said pointing out the obvious.

"I know that. That's why I agreed to do the test after the baby was born just to be certain. You want to do the test now?" She asked him looking him directly in the eye.

"I've found it's best to humor my mother." He said quietly knowing how much worse this could get. He could not believe she got a court order.

"That's not the question I asked you Matt." Amanda said with anger.

"I know. I don't know what I want." He answered her honestly.

"You never know what you want Matt. Do you want me? Do you want this child? Maybe in that mind of yours you're hoping the baby is Daniel's so you can run away. Maybe you're hoping if Daniel got someone pregnant Betty we'll just fall back into your arms." Amanda said almost hysterical.

"I don't want Betty." He said trying to grab her again but she pushed him so hard he fell over.

"I don't care Matt. All I care about is if you love me. If this child I'm carrying is someone else's child that I conceived when I was not in a relationship with you and you were in a relationship with someone else, will you still love this child?" He thought about her question. Could he really raise another man's child? He wasn't sure.

"You can't answer me. Don't worry about it. Your silence tells me everything I need to know." Amanda said getting up from the bed with her backside showing.

"Can you do the test?" She asked her doctor.

"Yes, we can do it today." The gynecologist replied.

"Let's do it." Amanda said walking back into the room.

"Amanda," Matt said trying to grab her again.

"Don't touch me. I love you but it's obvious that you don't love me. Just get the fuck away from me right now." Amanda said in tears as she walked back into the room.

"It's better this way Matt. You should be with a girl who is more of your station." His mother said callously as she patted him on the shoulder.

"If Amanda is pregnant with your grandchild you'll never see him or her. You'll never see me again either way. As far as I'm concerned I have no mother." Matt said angrily as he watched his mother walk away after the chaos that she brought.

"I think I understand why my biological father cheated on her with you. She's an absolute Bitch." Tyler said from behind him and Matt couldn't agree more.

* * *

**The present**

"I can understand why she hates you right now. I don't understand why she hates me." Marc said after he heard the entire story.

"She hates everyone right now. She is mad at me for not being there and she is probably angry at you for the same reason. The fact that Matt thought it would be a good idea to tell her that Wilhelmina was responsible for telling Victoria about the appointment just made things worse." Monique said with a sigh.

"The only people she doesn't hate currently are Tyler and Mrs. Meade. They've spent the majority of the afternoon bashing my mother." Matt said sitting down on the couch that once belonged to Betty. You can tell that it was hers because of the loud colors.

"Claire just went out for takeout." Just then Amanda walked into the apartment with ice cream in hand.

"I'm sorry I threw shoes at you." Amanda said quickly.

"It's okay Amanda." Matt started.

"I wasn't talking to you, you heartless bastard. I was talking to Marc. Claire just brought pizza. Do you want a slice?" Amanda said as a peace offering.

"Sure. The food on the train was horrible. I couldn't even get carrot sticks." Marc answered honestly.

"Monique can come too. Everyone but the heartless bastard." Amanda said pointing to Matt.

"Amanda, I'm sorry." Amanda hushed Matt with one finger before she walked out the door. "You said everything you needed to say this afternoon. Part of me hopes this child is Daniel's because unlike you he had no trouble with the idea of raising another man's child with the person he loved." Amanda said icily.

"What are you talking about?" Matt asked her.

"When Betty thought she was pregnant last year with your child, Daniel offered to raise that child with her even though they were not dating. That's how much he loved her. You will never love me like that. He was willing to raise another man's child because he loved her, when I'm not even sure you're willing to raise your own child. He moved to another country to be with her and you couldn't stay in this country to be with me." With that, Amanda was out the door.

"You are so screwed." Monique said as she grabbed her bag. "You can show me the proofs at your apartment. I could use a slice of pizza and maybe some alcohol." Monique said with a sigh.

"We don't have alcohol but we probably have chocolate. You screwed up so badly Matt that jewelry is going to be required to fix this." Marc said as he walked out the door.

"Trust me I know that." Matt said quietly. If Marc turned around at that moment he would have noticed the Tiffany's box in Matt's hand that resembled the box he found in Cliff's glove compartment almost two years earlier.

**To be continued.**


	18. London Edition II

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. There will be a lot of drama in the next few chapters. This chapter takes place a few hours after the last London chapter ended, but before Marc returned home to New York. I can't wait until all my characters are in the same time zone again in a few chapters. The time difference is absolutely driving me crazy.

* * *

**I Got a Story for You My Friend: London Edition II**

"Little William is getting so cute. I can't believe he is 16 months old already. I think he almost said my name." Betty told her boyfriend excitedly as they exited Christina's hotel room. They had no choice to leave dinner early when Christina's assistant called midway through to inform the designer that baby William would not go to sleep or even stop crying. Candy got to stay behind to enjoy the desert that Betty had been craving all day, which was completely unfair. However spending time with the chubby cheek little boy who stopped crying the moment his mommy stepped into the room more than made up for it.

"He's a lot cuter now that I am not under the impression that he was daddy's replacement child with the devil." Daniel thought William was cute before but just didn't say anything because of the Wilhelmina thing. Ever since DJ arrived at the Mode offices two years ago under the assumption that he was Daniel's son, Daniel loved children and the thought of being a father.

Maybe it was before then but she really wasn't paying attention. Daniel and Justin were very close although that may have something to do with the fact that her now boyfriend has been secretly supplementing Justin's wardrobe for the last four years. There was no way Hilda can afford to dress Justin the way he has become accustomed to, on the income from the beauty shop alone.

Betty knew Daniel wanted to be a father badly. He even offered to help her raise Matt's child when she thought she was pregnant last December. A few weeks after that she found various web pages on adoption bookmarked on his computer. Betty originally assumed that he was being so supportive of Amanda for that reason, before she knew that there was a small possibility that the baby could be Daniel's child. She remembered walking in on Daniel reading _Oh F$#%, I Got Someone Pregnant_ in Amanda's living room when he was spending so much time there, when Amanda and Daniel were pretending to be together. It seems that relationship was not as fake as she assumed it to be even if they were not really together at that time.

"You can't blame an innocent child for who their parents are." She said out loud wondering if the statement only pertained to little William. "By the way, have you spoken to Tyler today?" Betty added nonchalantly, bringing up Daniel's brother who he was still mad at simply because he was Cal Hartley's child. It was better than talking about the Amanda thing and her own baby related fears.

Things went so bad Saturday that she purposely didn't bring up anything about Amanda's baby or having children someday when they had their long conversation Sunday morning about everything. They had enough to talk about regarding his sister Alexis and his brand new niece Alexis. To stave off confusion, she was personally referring to Matt's cousin and Daniel's niece as Lexis.

"Was that your way of telling me that I need to stop being mad at Tyler, because it was not his fault that my mom fell victim to the Hartley charm or that the condom broke?" Daniel asked looking at her.

"Pretty much. Answer my question?" Betty said giving him a tiny kiss on the lips once she realized nobody was around.

"He called while Christina was showing you the cute little things that she designed for baby William as part of her new children's collection and the baby present to give to Amanda. Unfortunately, I was too busy watching you go absolutely crazy over baby William to pick up the phone." Even she knew that was an excuse. According to Mrs. Meade and Amanda, Daniel didn't go to see Tyler in rehab unless he was forced by someone. Betty usually could only get him to call Tyler under duress now. They did have an interesting conversation Saturday as he, Matt, and Tyler bonded over the mess that Alexis senior and Brianna got everyone into.

There probably would have been more sympathy for Alexis if Daniel told everyone how sick she really was but Alexis wanted to break the news in person. That still did not prevent things from deteriorating quickly, once they started talking about the latest rumors in the press about Daniel being the real father of Amanda's baby started by Victoria Hartley herself.

Despite everything Victoria Hartley did to her when she was dating Matt, she couldn't believe how cruel the woman was being to Amanda. She was even sabotaging Amanda's new business, which was why the aspiring stylus was working as Monique's personal assistant/stylus.

"Don't give me that look. I really did not want to get into another family argument in front of Christina and her assistant. He probably called me to tell me how Amanda's doctor's appointment went any way. I'm surprised I don't have a sonogram picture waiting in my inbox. I hope it's a girl." Again, there was that excitement with a hint of sadness underneath. Being the person that knew Daniel better than anyone else in the universe, Betty knows the real reason he's angry at Alexis was his sister who never really wanted children had two because of her own negligence and Daniel was still without a child of his own.

"We'll know soon enough. For all our sakes I hope it will be a little boy because I don't think we can deal with Amanda junior. I'm surprised by the lack of ultrasound pictures as well. Actually, I'm surprised she didn't text message us during her doctor's appointment." Betty told him as they continued walking down the corridor of the hotel to the elevators.

"I'm a little worried about that too. I'll call her when we get to the house. I hope she is not back to being in denial about being pregnant again." Daniel mumbled that part under his breath, so low that she barely heard him.

"What?" Betty asked him in confusion, not completely understanding what he meant. Amanda seemed very happy about being pregnant. Every time they talked recently Amanda would mention the baby. Betty knew more about morning sickness than she ever wanted to.

"Amanda didn't handle finding out she was pregnant very well. According to my mom, it took her, Gio, and Monique 2 hours just to convince her to take the test. When it came up positive, she spent most of that night crying although that may have something to do with Matt breaking up with her the day before I think. It was not a good time for her." That she didn't know about. As far as she knew, Matt and Amanda were together the entire time he was in Africa. She had a feeling there was a lot of things going on that she didn't know about.

"No more talk of Amanda and baby things. I want to enjoy a few minutes with my girlfriend." He said pulling her down on one of the couches in the public seating area by the elevators. "Did you like your surprise?"

"I love it." She told him happily with a quick peck on the lips. "I just wish we were not leaving for New York on Wednesday afternoon. I would love to spend more time with her." Betty said with a sigh as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I know." He said kissing her on the cheek as he ran one hand through her hair. "That is where the other part of the surprise comes in. Mode UK signed an exclusive deal with the hottest new designer in the region to feature all of her new collections for the next two years. Christina will be back at the end of August to shoot the winter collection." She let out a completely unladylike cheer of happiness at that, causing the older lady passing by to look at her strangely. She quickly covered her mouth, which caused Daniel to start giggling.

"I knew you would love that." He said just before capturing her mouth in a just barely appropriate for public kiss again. Why did she wait so long for this? She was already addicted to kissing him. "How was your first day with Becks? If he did anything stupid like try to proposition you I will cut off his balls." He asked her once the kiss ended, much too soon for her taste, but they were in public.

"What is it with you and castration? You threatened Matt the same way." She joked. Surprisingly enough her boyfriend's college friend was well behaved, but she was quickly learning that he was not who she thought he was.

"It's a guy thing and Matt deserved it. Even though I will never tell Amanda this, I think he was a complete ass for sleeping with her just days after he broke up with you when he knew that he was leaving the country for six months. What he did to her was worse than anything I did at the peak of my player phase. He knew that she loved him and he still did that to her." Daniel said angrily. It looked like Daniel hated her ex boyfriend for reasons unrelated to her and the fact that they share a brother.

"I thought we were not going to talk about Amanda and anything related to that." She said not wanting to have a Matt related argument for any reason in public.

"Sorry." Daniel said giving her an apology kiss. "Is my old friend a model employee?" He asked just as he pulled away.

"Actually, yes, I was skeptical when he first told me Saturday that he was my new photographer. However, I realize I had nothing to worry about when he showed up to the London Hub offices wearing a suit and behaving completely professionally. He did not even flirt with Betsy. Actually, he was nice to me. That was a little weird. I'm glad you showed me his portfolio this weekend." When she said this, she noticed a tiny frown form on Daniel's face.

"That's good. I can understand why you were skeptical. If I didn't know him my entire life I wouldn't believe that he had this completely different side to him." Daniel told her.

"I guess I shouldn't be so judgmental. I hate when people do that to me." Daniel looked sheepish as she said this. "He was too busy with getting acclimated for us to really talk, but at least he doesn't call me names behind my back like all my other employees. We're supposed to meet tomorrow to talk about his first major project for the magazine. I have so much to do tomorrow." Betty said with a sigh as she got up from the couch and Daniel follow behind her to the elevator.

"I know. The only way your boss would agree to let you go to the wedding was if you did press in New York Thursday and Friday. Everything will be fine. I can even pack for you if you want. There are a few items in the Mode closet that would look wonderful on you." Daniel said giving her a wicked look as he pushed the button for the elevator.

"If you pack for me I'm going to end up with mostly uncomfortable underwear and tops that show off way too much cleavage." Considering the expression on Daniels face, he was probably envisioning what she would look like in that particular outfit.

"You forgot to include short skirts that almost show off your barely their underwear for easy access." Thankfully they were in the elevator when Daniel's fingers started to ghost over the skin underneath the waistband of her skirt to prove some sort of point. She began to shiver as his fingers slid under the black lace panties she was wearing. Okay so maybe she was wearing a lot of that uncomfortable underwear by choice, but really Daniel did not need to know that. "I promise to behave. You will look very professional." Considering the fact he made her want to stop the elevator, with the way he was touching her, she seriously doubted Daniel Meade could ever behave.

"I don't trust you. I think I finally figured out why you like women's fashion so much. You enjoy dressing us up too much." She said pulling his hands out of the danger zone much to her own dismay.

"Just you." He said as he bent down to kiss her just as the elevator doors started to open. She quickly pulled away from him as she walked out of the elevator. Just because their relationship was now public didn't mean that she wanted pictures of the two of them making out in an elevator all over the place tomorrow morning. She didn't say another word until they were safely in the car heading back home.

"The press will be the least of my worries in New York. In addition to all the interviews before the award show, Lindsey is having me meet with a few possible international advertisers' and he is taking me to a few business meetings. I'm not going to have time to have fun with you. Other than the wedding Saturday, this is going to be a business trip." She said with a sigh.

"I'm not surprised." Betty knew Daniel wanted to say more but he didn't. Instead, she heard Daniel's cell phone signal a message.

"That's weird. I did not hear it ring." Daniel said opening his phone to play the message. At the same time, Betty's phone made the exact same noise.

"We were in an elevator and then an underground parking area." Of course, considering the way Daniel was touching her in the elevator she is pretty sure the fire alarm could have gone off and she would've remained oblivious.

"It's Amanda, and the message is 5 minutes long. Messages can be that long?" Betty asked with a quizzical look.

"Unfortunately, did your dad ever tell you about that one time I left a 4 minute declaration of my love for you on your home answering machine?" Daniel said leaning over to kiss her.

"No. When did this happen?" Betty asked pulling back from the touch of his lips.

"Last summer, it was the night after I spread most of Molly's ashes. I was drunk and upset. Your father was kind enough to delete the message." Betty was sure he started playing Amanda's message just so she would not ask him any more questions. Why did she have a feeling that that particular thing happened more than once. At least it would explain why she hasn't received any angry phone calls from her father about the fact that she and Daniel went from friends to living together without actually dating first.

What she heard would instantly distract her from the thought that Daniel was in love with her at least a year ago. Throughout the entire message, Amanda was crying hysterically. She was not even this bad when her dog died. The only words Betty could make out were baby, asshole boyfriend, and mommy bitch. This was not good.

* * *

**Saturday**

"I don't understand why you didn't tell me that you could be the father of Amanda's baby." Betty said, as she stepped inside their home. She stayed completely silent on the ride back from the Mode offices. That was mostly so the driver would not hear this extremely private conversation. She was angry and a part of her felt like she was going through the whole Henry fiasco again. This was 1000 times worse because she knew she couldn't survive without Daniel for more than a week or two at a time.

"Because, it was highly unlikely and it wasn't like I lied to you. I told you, I really did sleep with Amanda in the Bahamas because I was upset that you went back to Matt after you kissed me. We also slept with each other a couple more times but most of the time we would end up watching movies and hanging out. I needed a friend and you weren't there. You were practically living with Matt by that point. Can you really be mad at me for sleeping with Amanda when you were in a relationship with someone else?" Daniel asked her angrily. Her decision to use Matt to keep herself away from Daniel was the biggest regret of her life. It seems like this is a consequence of that stupid decision.

"No." She said halfheartedly as she sat on the couch. She knew all about that. Amanda told her about that herself, when she begged for forgiveness after Betty found out about the pregnancy. She did not blame Henry for going back to Charlie when she was holding onto a particularly bad relationship out of fear. It would be hypocritical of her to do the same to Daniel when the situation was so similar.

"Does it make you feel better to know that Amanda stopped sleeping with me before Christmas because I call her your name in bed?" Amanda told her about this, yet when Daniel said it meant more to her.

"A little bit." Betty responded with a smile.

"The doctor believes Amanda got pregnant in January, at least a month after we stopped sleeping together." Daniel said in reassurance but it wasn't that reassuring.

"Doctors can be wrong sometimes. Hilda had a false period when she got pregnant with Justin." She said, justifying her fear.

"Yes, they can be." Daniel said in acquiescence.

"So why hasn't Amanda got a DNA test yet?"

"Because she does not want to get one until after the baby is born especially given the unlikelihood that I'm the father. Unlike her and Matt, we used a condom every time and she was taking her birth control properly. I'm not going to force her to have the DNA test now. She is worried about having a miscarriage due to listening to your sister and Monique, recount their pregnancy war stories. She doesn't want to do anything that can increase the probability even a little bit." Betty remembered how broken Hilda was when she lost the baby last year. She didn't want Amanda to go through that.

"It doesn't matter I've essentially been told by Amanda that I'm going to be Uncle Daniel no matter what." Daniel said that part angrily not even looking at her.

"What does that mean?" Betty asked him.

"Amanda wants to raise the baby with Matt." Daniel said softly.

"But what if it's not his kid? What if Matt leaves her? He is really good at that. " She said in a slight panic.

"I'm not Henry. So get that out of your head. I chose you, I want you. I move to another country for you." Again Daniel said with her.

"I'm not thinking about Henry." She said with her voice slightly raised.

"No you're thinking about the situation. You are afraid I'm just going to leave you in four months if it turns out this baby's mind. I am not leaving you. I'm just going to be the cool uncle who lives in London and visits every couple months." She could easily see the pain on his face as he said this.

"You're not just going to abandon your child. I know you too well." She always knew Daniel was a good person inside. He stayed by Molly's side through cancer for God's sake. He wouldn't leave Amanda behind. She was going to lose him again and that thought scared the hell out of her more than Henry moving to Arizona ever did.

"We'll cross that bridge if we get there. Considering what Victoria Hartley is doing to Amanda in New York she may be willing to move to another country. She has been essentially blacklisted by Matt's mom. No one will hire her." She was so wrapped up in her panic about what happened last time that she did not even hear Daniel's words.

"I don't want to wait four months to find out that you're leaving me." Betty said on the verge of tears.

"You have this in your head that things are going to end up exactly like last time. This isn't like last time. There is something called joint custody. Amanda is not Charlie. She is not going to keep me away from my child out of some petty vendetta. You know that's what happened last time." She knew Daniel had a point.

"I know Amanda is not like that. I just don't see how you can stay with me in London and be a fulltime father with Amanda in New York." Betty said stating her fear.

"Are you saying that this is an either or proposition?" He asks looking at her.

"I don't know."

"I love you. If I thought you would say yes, we would be at Tiffany's right now choosing your engagement ring. I want to grow old with you. I want to have children with you." Daniel said sitting down next to her.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for that right now. I need to focus on my career. This is just not the right time for children." She said before realizing what she really said.

"It's a little too late for that. We already have joint custody of DJ and Justin will be living with us for a month in August. Congratulations, you are the proud mother of two teenagers and the world hasn't fallen apart. What are you so afraid of? " Daniel asked her sardonically.

"That's different." She said realizing it really wasn't but she wasn't going to lose this battle.

"No it's not. You have it in your mind that you can either be a wife and mother or be a businesswoman. You can be both. Actually, you have been both since DJ showed up on our doorstep. You're a good mom and good EIC." Daniel said stroking her cheek.

"Hilda couldn't." Betty almost screamed pulling away from his touch.

"Your sister got pregnant at 16 by a guy that ran the other way screaming. Even then, she still had a wonderful support system. You are 26 with a good job and a partner who will not leave you. More importantly, I will not let what I want get in the way of your dreams. It's not the same." She didn't know how to respond to that. Last year when she was panicking about being possibly pregnant with Matt's child her biggest fear was that he would leave her. She knew Daniel was not Matt.

"I can't deal with this right now." Daniel said as he got off the couch to grab his keys from the counter.

"Where are you going?" She asked quickly as she followed behind him.

"Anywhere but here, I can't deal with this. You need to get over your fear really quickly because even without the condom breaking or a DNA test proving that Amanda's baby is my child, permanent parenthood maybe just around the corner. I can't do it alone." His voice was hard but she knew he was on the verge of tears.

"What are you talking about?" Betty asked in puzzlement.

"Alex is sick." He said using his sister's original name.

"I know that. I was there when she told DJ. I even heard her explain to your mother why she was in New York last week."

"She didn't tell DJ everything. She didn't even tell me everything. She's dying." Daniel said, not looking at her. He has not sounded like this since the day Molly died.

"What?" She said in open mouth shock.

"I know you did a lot of research on everything last night so you should know this is a possibility." She did know that it was a possibility that part of her didn't think it was that bad. "She's not responding to treatment as well as they'd like. Actually, my sister didn't tell me that Briana did this afternoon. According to her regular doctor in France, if she doesn't get a heart transplant soon she won't be around to see Alexis junior start first grade. That's why she was in the State's, looking for a few more options. They're hopeful but there may not be many other options. She has an appointment at NIH later this week."

"I didn't think it was that bad." Betty said reaching for him but he pulled away. He was crying by now. Daniel cries so rarely that it was shocking for her to see him like this. Considering his break down yesterday, she should've known it was this bad.

"Alexis isn't known for sharing. This is not the time to be giving me an ultimatum, because you are scared about something that has not even happened yet. I need you. I can't do this by myself. I am fucking terrified of what's going to happen and I need you." Daniel said before slamming the door behind him.

She called his name but he didn't turn around. She considered following him, but she knew Daniel well enough by this point to know that he needed time to cool off. A quick phone call 10 minutes later to the bartender that already liked her, told her that Daniel was at his new favorite bar a few blocks away drown in his sorrow in beer and pub food. She decided it was best to leave him there until when the bartender called her back 2 hours later telling her to pick up her boyfriend. He wasn't completely drunk but he kept bursting into tears, talking about dying family members.

She had a feeling if she showed up, there right now more yelling would occur. That would not be good. At this point Betty was not even sure her presence would do any good. Daniel needed time to cool down and 2 hours usually was never enough.

However, she could not leave him there. She hated dealing with drunk Daniel because usually too much was said. She thought she was done with that after she stopped being his assistant. Now she was the girlfriend, which meant more dealing with stupid Daniel tricks that she will put up with because she loves him. She could always have Candy deal with it now. After the scene at her apartment yesterday, Betty didn't want to impose.

Daniel also needed a friend and that was no longer in her job description. Usually that was Amanda's job now, but she was currently in New York dodging the press. Alexis was also out of the question because their relationship was never that good in the first place. That left only one person to call even though she really didn't want to.

It took her 15 minutes to find his phone number in Daniel's cell phone that he left behind. Betty discovered that after she called him and heard a Backstreet Boys song begin to play in the living room. His choice of ring tone made her a little less angry.

Before she could talk herself out of it she quickly dialed the number. She really hoped that she did not interrupt him in the middle of one of his 'dates'.

"Hello." She heard him say quickly.

"Hi Becks, this is Betty." She said into the phone not entirely sure how to start this conversation

"I would ask why you are calling but I already know. I guess Lindsey told you that I was the staff photographer he hired for London Hub." Betty was so wrapped up in Daniel centered thoughts that she really didn't hear him instead she continued on.

"No, I had a fight with Daniel and he is currently hiding in the bar down the street that you met him at last week. The bartender just called me to come get him. Wait, Lindsey hired you for London hub?" She asked skeptically once her mind started working again. Moments like these make her wonder why she came to London in the first place. Things would be so much easier if she stayed in New York.

"Yes. Is that so hard to believe?" He asked with a sigh.

"Honestly yes. You are a fashion photographer. You are a good fashion photographer, but you're still a fashion photographer. Lindsey said that the new staff photojournalist worked in Afghanistan for a year." Betty said skeptically. Actually, that information was the only reason why she was okay with hiring Benjamin Bennett. "I'll take that as a compliment. I also spent two months in Haiti after the earthquake. I like taking pictures. I'm good at it and it has nothing to do with my Daddy or his company." He said nonchalantly. Betty was tempted to drop her phone.

"You also enjoy models and partying." Betty shot back not in a mood to have this conversation.

"So did your boyfriend at one time. I suggest you stop insulting me if you want me to get your boyfriend. I assume that's why you called." Becks said quickly.

"Mostly. He can also use a friend right now and I have just been officially moved to the girlfriend category. Things will just get tense again if I showed up and there's a 50% chance that I might be followed by the press." Betty said honestly realizing for the first time how her relationship with Daniel has really changed. She wasn't the best friend anymore.

"What did you two fight about?" He asked.

"That's personal." Betty said defensively not wanting to answer.

"You want me to go get him. I need to know why he ran away." She knew he was right but she was reluctant to answer. She and Becks never had a very good relationship. She wasn't sure if she was ready to trust him but he was her only option right now.

"He didn't run away, he's just cooling down." She said defending her boyfriend.

"Most likely with vast quantities of alcohol." Becks mumbled under his breath.

"Fine." Betty said giving up. "It was a lot of things, including the girl he may have got pregnant." It would be up to Daniel to tell him more.

"What? He cheated on you?" He asked her almost angrily. She was surprised by this. She thought Becks would be happy about a possible breakup considering his initial reaction when he found out that they were together.

"No. We have only been together since right before you got here. It's complicated. Daniel got mad at me because I went back to my ex boyfriend last November right before Christmas. He slept with Amanda to get back at me. Then again, maybe it could have been a rebound thing after Molly. He keeps changing his story, so I don't know what was going on. In February, Amanda ended up pregnant." Betty said trying to condense the crazy situation into just a few lines.

"So Daniel finely knocked up that receptionist he was sleeping around with before you two became the best of 'friends'. That's why you are pissed?" He asked and Betty felt offended.

"Amanda is my friend. She realized Daniel was in love with someone else and ended it in December." Betty decided not to tell him that Amanda realized that Daniel was in love with her and therefore felt it was best to end the relationship.

"Even the ditzy receptionist figured it out before you two." Becks mumbled into the phone so quietly that Betty barely heard him.

"Amanda is not ditzy. She is just a little eccentric. She is a good person." Betty said defensively imagining the incredulous look she would be receiving if this conversation occurred in person.

"In January, I broke up with Matt because he was moving to Africa to do volunteer work. It was supposedly mutual. What I did not know was he really broke up with me because he was in love with Amanda and had a three days sex marathon with her before he left the country where Amanda forgot to take her birth control pills for three days."

Okay so she was slightly dishonest with why Matt broke up with her but Becks did not need to know that Matt figured out the she was only with him in an effort to stay away from Daniel. That was one thing she did not want to talk about.

"You are defending her even though she slept with your boyfriend right after you broke up after sleeping with the guy you have actually been in love with? Shouldn't you be bashing her?" Betty did not realize how absurd the situation sounded until Becks voiced everything out loud.

"No, Amanda is still my friend. I told you the situation was complicated." She said sighing. That was an understatement. This whole thing sounded like a plot line from her dad's favorite telenovela.

With shaky breath she told Becks everything that happened in the Bahamas and the kiss that led to her running back to Matt because she was absolutely terrified of what she felt when she kissed Daniel. She also told him about her cheating on Matt in December with Daniel and Matt cheating on her with Amanda. Apparently, Daniel must have told him some stuff when he and Daniel went out for drinks previously.

Becks didn't seem at all surprised. He just listened and asked appropriate questions as she covered the more recent stuff with dying sisters and tabloid journalism. She even went on a rant about how everyone treated her at her new job and the fact that everybody in the office hated her. He agreed with her that Lindsey should have talked to her about hiring him.

Becks didn't judge, which was a good thing, Betty really hasn't had a chance to talk to anybody about this entire mess, which is the only logical explanation for her confiding in Becks. Amanda was too involved and would most likely start breaking down in tears at any moment. She felt guilty as was evidenced by her breaking down in tears during the middle of the video conference. Marc was too busy with his new job and was too close to Amanda to be objective.

The situation was similar with Mrs. Meade except she was busy with Tyler and this mess with Alexis. She didn't even know how sick her daughter really was. That was going to become messy very quickly.

Her family was also out of the question. Justin was too young. Her sister was currently moving into her brand new apartment with her new husband and would tell her that she was being completely silly. Her father may try to kill Daniel.

Christina now was busy with her new business and her family. She was still getting to know the other ladies of _Mode UK and didn't know any of them well enough for this type of conversation__._

"I can't believe it took both of you four years to figure it out." Becks said quietly once she was done. She wasn't expecting that reaction from him, even knowing everyone else has said the exact same thing for months.

"Wait what do you mean by that?" Betty asked him in confusion. There is no way that he could have known. If there was anyone who was as clueless as she was it would have to be Becks. At least she hoped so. He was gone before things really started to change.

"I knew something was going to happen between you two eventually, as soon as Daniel began to look past the braces and the eccentric fashion sense. Three years ago, we were at a club together surrounded by scantily clad Women who had no trouble being another conquest and Daniel couldn't stop looking at you. You were looking at him the exact same way. It was already starting even back then." He told her.

"That's not possible." She said in a near whisper. It could not have been so obvious back then.

"Yes it was. Before he met you, he was my best friend. Little by little, you took that place. You were never just his assistant. I don't think you were ever just his friend either. It was always different between you two. Then Bradford died, and I saw that Daniel was more upset about you leaving him then his father dying. We were there with his father in ICU and he couldn't stop talking about how mad he was at you because of what you did to him. Hours later, I saw you standing there holding his hand as he mourned. That's when I knew Daniel didn't need me anymore because he had you. I decided to take the correspondence job with National Explorer a few days later. He didn't need me anymore. I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to explore scantily clad tribal life in the most remote parts of South America instead I ended up in Afghanistan." Okay that last part sounded like the Becks she knew and tolerated.

"That wasn't true. I didn't take your place. He did miss you." She told him honestly.

"Maybe, but not like he misses you, Daniel would never move to another country for me. We have barely e-mailed each other over the last two years; then again, I was in a part of the world where e-mail service is a little sketchy. I didn't even know he married someone else." She could detect irritation in his voice.

"He was busy and the wedding was kind of sudden. They were barely married for a month anyway when she died." She said defensively once more.

"Even now you're making excuses for him when you're mad at him." Becks said with a sigh.

"I'm not mad. I'm just…" Betty had no idea how to even finish that sentence.

"You're scared that he's going to leave you. Maybe a part of you is wondering if you made the right decision in coming to London in the first place. I can already tell that this job is not what you thought it was going to be. If you were still in New York you wouldn't have to worry about Daniel choosing the baby over you and moving back." Becks said her knowing a little too well.

"Maybe," She said honestly after a long pause. Everything was such a mess right now.

"You don't have to worry about that. As I already said, he already moved to another country for you. He obviously knew about the possibility that the baby was his and still moved to London. He already made his choice." She never thought about that point until it was said aloud.

Then she thought about what Daniel said. Amanda decided that he would just be Uncle Daniel no matter what. She already knew that Amanda was the one who pushed Daniel to move to London to be with her.

"You're right." She said hating to say those words to him. "I am being so stupid."

"Tell that to Daniel once I drop him back off at your house." Becks said ending the call.

Of course, she wouldn't see Daniel for three more hours after Becks brings him back to the house completely drunk but that was beside the point. Although, even she will admit that drunk Daniel is easier to deal with when she was perfectly OK with him filling her up. Drunk Daniel was always touchy feely at least now she was okay with the touching. He also says some pretty interesting things when he was drunk. Tonight he apologized sort of.

"I'm sorry I may have got Mandy pregnant." Daniel said to her as he literally fell onto their bed.

"It's okay. We'll talk about it later." Betty said as she sat on the bed to help Daniel undress. Actually, she preferred never to talk about it again.

"I don't like fighting with you." Daniel said as he tried to take off his shirt. After a few uncoordinated seconds she did it for him.

"I don't either." She said as she undid his pants. Even completely drunk he was still have hard as he kissed her. He was also by her calculations 30 seconds from falling over unconscious.

"I wish it was few." He said becoming less coherent by the second.

"What do you wish was me?" She asked knowing that she shouldn't.

"Few should be pregnant. Pregnancy ballets are sexy. You're sexy. Wanna make you cum." She wanted to tell him that now was not the time to talk about that but he was probably too drunk to even remember or pronounce some of the words correctly.

"Want you to have my need baby. I can stay home. Can't lose you." She didn't completely understand what he said except for the last part.

"I'm not leaving." She said as she kissed him on the forehead before pulling away momentarily.

"You said you wouldn't leave." Daniel said pulling her back down.

"I'm not. I am just getting dressed."

"Stay with me."

"Okay." She said falling next to him.

* * *

**The Present**

She knew Daniel was instantly worried when he heard Amanda's message. So was she. It became complete panic when neither of them could get a hold of Amanda the entire way home.

"You don't think she lost the baby?" Daniel asked, as the car left the two in front of the house that was reporter free. Betty wondered about that herself.

"I don't think she would have left a voice mail if that was the case. I think Matt probably broke up with her because he decided to take care of orphans in Nepal or something like that." Betty said in slight irritation.

After listening to the message three more times she is almost sure Amanda's anger was directed at Matt because apparently he didn't actually love her and was running away again.

"If he left her, I am going to kill him. You might as well contact the lawyers now." Daniel said just as he put the key in the door for their house. Part of her actually believed him. At times like these, distraction was the best course of action. This involved her pushing him against the door as soon as they walked inside. Their mouths were fused instantly. Within seconds, she felt him pressed hard against her thigh. Good thing DJ would be spending the night at the hotel with his mom and sister.

"I rather not. I prefer that our first time was not a conjugal visit." She whispered against his neck as she felt her skirt be unzipped and fall down to the floor.

"Very true." Daniel said as his hand played with her black lace panties again. "I could take care of that right now though." By that point, his hands had moved up to playing with her bra instead.

"Let's just relax. Amanda will call back in a little bit." She said just as she felt Daniel removing her top and the light suddenly came on.

"So this is why my 15 year old walked in on you two having sex in the kitchen. Betty I had no idea that you were this adventurous. Do you realize there's a five year old sleeping on your couch?" Betty completely froze as she heard the voice.

"Your sister just walked in on us?" She asked not looking at anybody.

"Yes." Daniel quickly said as he helped her put her skirt back on.

"Her daughter is sleeping on a couch 10 feet away? She asked again not looking at anyone.

"So is DJ." Daniel added. How could she not notice that?

"Oh god." She whispered into Daniel shoulder. She had the sudden urge to crawl under various pieces of furniture. Instead, she was having coffee with the witnesses to the crime.

**To be continued**

* * *

Question: Do you want Mandy's baby to be a boy or girl? This will be revealed in the next chapter, which I will probably have more time to write now due to circumstances beyond my control. I will find out at midnight.

The next part is already half done if I decide to use it. This chapter just became too long. After working on it for several weeks, I knew that my loyal readers would want me to put something up.


	19. Mode Family Secrets

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Special note regarding updates on all my stories: On 6/24, on the way to work, I was hit by a van that ran a red light. I survive with minor broken bones and bruises in very fun places. I'm currently going through physical therapy to help with walking. I am now able to walk around my house with a walker and I am no longer in pain all the time, so that is a great improvement. Because of the way I write, some chapters are already done that just need to be edited. I will work on these chapters during my recovery, as my body will let me. However, do not expect regular updates because I physically cannot do it right now.

After this experience the most important thing I want to say to everyone is pleased obey the traffic laws and don't distract yourself with your cell phone or other things. I do realize how fortunate I am not to be dead right now.

* * *

**Mode Family Secrets**

Matt was not having a good day and he wasn't even at Penn Station yet, let alone Union Station. Actually, things have been going downhill since yesterday's doctor's appointment and his mother's surprise appearance. He was so tired of her pulling stuff like this. This was worse than her 'intervention' a few years ago when she got tired of his career experimentation.

She actually had the audacity to send him an e-mail last night inviting him to brunch Sunday with the daughter of one of her 'friends'. By friend, Matt means self-absorbed wealthy old money socialite who only spends time with Matt's mother for the sake of her own social standing. This was his mother's very subtle way of trying to set him up with a much more 'suitable' partner of the country club set. Really, he shouldn't be surprised. She did the exact same thing the night after she met Betty for the first time.

Matt responded this morning with a phone call informing his mother that if things did not work out with Amanda he was sticking to men from now on. Maybe Matt should have just told his mother to go fuck herself instead. She may have received that better.

"I'm not joking. This is not a phase or my attempt at trying to freak you out. It's not one of my many experiments to find myself. Oh come on mother, I'm a recovering sex addict who allegedly slept with half of Manhattan. Guess what? It wasn't just the female half. If you actually paid attention to my life you probably would have figured that out by now. Dad has known about it since I was 18 and he caught me making out with his then assistant Mason." Matt practically screamed at her.

"If it didn't happen in his office he was completely unaware of it. This is the first time you have ever said anything to me. If you think this is going to convince me to accept that girl who is nothing more than a gold digger, you are sadly mistaken." Matt just rolled his eyes at her comment.

"How can you say things like that about Amanda when you don't know her and you continuously refused to see anything beyond the fact that she didn't grow up on the Upper East Side? Do you have any idea how big of a bigot you truly are? I never said anything to you about not being 100% heterosexual because of the nasty things you have said about Aunt Briana over the years." That was only part of the reason he never told his mom before this moment. Hearing all the nasty things his mom said about his pansexual aunt, did not make telling her any easier. He told himself in the past he didn't want to hurt her, now Matt thinks the opposite is true. He was waiting for the perfect moment to cause as much pain as possible. This was that moment.

"I've said a lot of nasty things about your aunt over the years. You need to be more specific. Although, I assumed you are referring to what I said about her last girlfriend or maybe her special relationship with Claire's surgically created daughter. I should have known the brat was hers. I don't hate Brianna because she's a lesbian; I hate her because she is her. I said those things because I hate your aunt. I'm not homophobic. I have lots of gay friends like Amanda's real father or Carlo. However, no son of mine will be gay. I want grandchildren that are really mine and not from some third world country. Could you imagine people like that in this family? You like sports and you have no idea how to dress yourself even though you have a so called fashion designer for an aunt." Matt actually laughed at that. By trying to prove that she was not close minded, she essentially proved that to be the case.

"Only you would consider your hairstylist who you barely talk to as a friend. By the way, he is married to a woman and has three daughters. He is just good with hair and likes wearing pink. I also don't believe you can count someone as a friend if you're blackmailing him. It's only working because he actually cares about a child he just met more than you ever cared about me. Don't worry about the grandkids thing. There's a 99.9% chance you already have one." Matt spat out bitterly.

"God, I hope not." He heard his mother mumble.

"I will never be who you want me to be. Stop trying to control my life. It took me awhile but I have learned that I have to do things my way. By the way, my best friend from high school was actually my lover off and on for over five years. Did you really think we were studying all the time? If you want grandkids that you may actually see once in awhile I suggest you pray that Amanda will forgive me." Matt said as he quickly ended the call by throwing his phone against the wall.

This probably wasn't the best way to tell his mom that he was bi but he wanted revenge after yesterday's stunt. He knew this little piece of information would most likely induced cardiac arrest and that was what he was going for.

Did Matt mention that Claire Meade was in his apartment at that moment laughing hysterically? Actually she was laughing so hard she was about to cry. Matt did the whole thing on speakerphone to get her back on his side. Matt hoped that she would tell Amanda that he defended her to his mother and maybe she would start talking to him again.

The Tiffany wedding ring would never be used as long as Amanda kept walking away from him every time he tried to get near her. He tried to talk to her this morning as she left with Marc but she just flipped him off just before throwing up on his shoes. Matt didn't say anything because even he felt he deserved that.

Claire was their early that morning to pick up Tyler for the week. He would be spending the next couple of days with Claire. Apparently helping to take care of Amanda yesterday helped improve their relationship enough that he was willing to stay in her house until they all got back from DC.

Unfortunately, the conversation this morning with his mother was not his most uncomfortable exchange with a family member, excluding any interaction with his girlfriend, in the last 24 hours. No that honor went to a late night conversation their time with his aunt, his half brother's other brother, and his former girlfriend. Actually, that conversation would win any way regardless of subject matter.

Really, he should not have picked up the phone when he saw that Betty was calling but Matt really wanted to talk to somebody who didn't hate him at the moment. Even if he actually spoke to her, that probably wasn't going to happen. Amanda was one of Betty's best friends and that automatically meant that she would be on her side despite the circumstances. Instead of a consoling Betty, he was actually speaking to a worried Daniel who called using Betty's cell phone. Daniel was seconds from ripping Matt's head off. Betty was listening along with his Aunt Brianna and his niece's biological father/other mother. Apparently, Amanda left an unintelligible message on all of their cell phones. Matt was angry that Amanda turned to Daniel again but said nothing. He couldn't as Daniel started screaming at him.

"You are a complete jack ass." Daniel yelled at him so loud that Matt pulled the phone away from his ear. "If the situation was the other way and Betty was currently carrying your child I wouldn't give a fuck. I would love that child as if it was my own because it was a part of her." Matt scoffed at that.

"I doubt that you would be that altruistic if the situation was really the other way around." Matt said out loud.

"He already has. He was going to raise DJ as his own son so he wouldn't have to know about what I did with my brother's girlfriend." Matt barely recognized the voice because it was higher now thanks to the hormone treatments but he knew it was his aunt's special friend Alex.

"Like Alexis said I already did, so your argument is ridiculous. Do you really love Amanda?" Daniel asked not giving Matt time to respond to the earlier question.

"Yes." Matt answered instantly annoyed at the fact that Daniel questioned him.

"No, I'm talking about real love not mere affection or sexual attraction. What would you be willing to give up for her? Would you choose Amanda over Victoria? Will you finally settled down and grow up?" Matt could hear the seriousness in his tone over the phone.

"I already have." He responded in extreme irritation. What right did Daniel have to question him? He was blind to his own feelings regarding Betty for years. He was a bigger screw up then Matt ever was until Betty came along.

"I doubt that considering the message in my voicemail and everything I've seen over the last nine months. You already chose your own needs over her more than once. You tried to get back with Betty even though you knew it wasn't going to work leaving Amanda brokenhearted. You have no idea how upset she was that night. She cried off and on for hours, yet she let you go willingly. Of course, you still screwed around with her heart afterwards. I know all about the kiss the night you found out that you didn't get Betty pregnant. Amanda told me. You ran away to Africa but not before you screwed her literally this time without being smart enough to use a condom. You left her for your own selfish reasons but decided to tie her to you anyway. Then you broke up with her because of whatever lie Megan told you. A large part of me thinks you are only with her this time because of the baby." Matt was pretty sure he heard something break in the background at that moment. He had a feeling that Betty was pissed.

"I needed to find myself. That is why I went to Botswana." Matt said defensively. He was tempted to say 'I didn't want to watch you get with my ex girlfriend' but he had a feeling that would not work well in this situation.

"You're 28 fucking years old with a kid on the way. You don't have time to keep running away to fine yourself. Grow the fuck up." The seriousness of Daniel's statement was lesson by laughter in the background.

"Alexis, I'm trying to make a point here. Stop laughing." Daniel screamed at his sister.

"I'm laughing at the absurdity of the situation. You are actually telling somebody else that he needs to grow up. That is just too much." Alexis said as she continued laughing. Matt imagined his aunt's 'special friend' falling on the floor from her hysterical giggling.

"It may have taken me a bit longer than everyone else but I did get there. Your trust me to take care of DJ, therefore you must see me as a grownup. I'm also now in charge of _Mode UK_ and all European operations without the help of you, mom, or Wilhelmina." Daniel said with high amounts of irritation.

"Sorry. Continue raking Brianna's nephew over the coals for running away like a coward and his inability to stand up to his acid tongue bitch of a mother." Alexis said as she stopped laughing.

"Like, you are one to talk." Matt spat out. "My aunt has been raising your namesake by herself for the last five years. Where the fuck were you?" Matt said bitterly stating the one question that has been on his mind sense he found out about the paternity of his baby cousin/pseudo niece.

"Unlike you, I didn't know. It wasn't like your aunt went on _The Fashion Report _and told everything." Alexis said in her defense. Matt didn't believe her.

"Like, I would ever do that." His aunt said with an angry scoffed. "It wasn't like I could tell you because I thought you were dead until Lexis was a toddler. I was the only one who knew about your gender identity issues and you didn't have the decency to tell me what you were planning. I knew something was off about the accident report. I thought you killed yourself because you couldn't deal with being in the wrong body or Bradford's rejection anymore. I mourned for you like everyone else. Do know how hard it was to carry the child of a dead man?" His aunt said with the type of venom that she usually reserved just for Matt's mother. Although usually when Brianna is dealing with his mother, she usually is not on the verge of tears.

"I was going to tell you everything that morning but you were already gone when I woke up." Matt was pretty sure Alexis was referring to the morning after Alexis junior was conceived but he didn't want confirmation of that. The thought of his half-brother sister having sex with his aunt was just strange and disturbing on so many levels. This must be the most incestuous family ever.

"What was I supposed to do Alex? You were with Jordan. You told the world that you loved her and you wanted to marry her someday. I was trying to move on from you. Then you showed up at my door and kissed me. It was like nothing changed. Of course, I ran away." Matt was pretty sure his aunt was crying by that point.

"I'm sure the two of you have lots of things to talk out." Betty started. "Preferably when neither of the children are up and watching this scene through the kitchen stairs. You and Alexis can deal with these issues in private. Can we please get this conversation back to Amanda and Matt?" Betty said trying to get the conversation back on track.

"Fine." Alexis mumbled under her breath. "Let me say this, I have never run away from my responsibilities from my children. The only reason why I ever considered letting Daniel continue to raise DJ as his son was because I thought it would be easier on DJ. He was already having a difficult enough time accepting that his aunt used to be his uncle. I didn't want to make it worse by inadvertently taking the place of his mother. I love my son, and would do anything to be with him. The same is already true with Alexis. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with my brother. You need to grow up, and take responsibility for what you do. " Really he should have hung up the phone right then and there but unfortunately he didn't.

"You are your father son. Your father tried to force my mother to have an abortion because he didn't want to take responsibility for creating Tyler. He will not even see him now. Maybe you should just run away now like you normally do. It will be easier in the end. Amanda doesn't need you if you don't want to be there. There are a lot of people who will be there for her. You know I hope the baby is mine even if baby talk freaks Betty out right now because unlike you I would cherish this child no matter how it disrupted my plans." The way Daniel said it, Matt completely believed him.

"Baby talk does not freak me out." Betty said defensively. "I want to have kids with you even if I have to play stepmom. I just don't want to give birth any time soon. Just give me a year or two." Matt almost dropped his phone at that moment. Less than a year ago, she was absolutely terrified about the mere possibility of being pregnant with this child but Betty was perfectly ready to start a family with Daniel now. Actually, she was perfectly ready to start a family with Daniel last year if Matt remembered correctly.

"Do you mean that?" Daniel asked with surprise in his voice that could easily be heard through the telephone.

"Yes… maybe. I mostly said it in the heat of the moment but yes eventually." This announcement was followed by what sounded distinctly like kissing.

"Please go upstairs and do that. If I wanted to watch porn right now, I would download something to my phone." He heard his aunt say with a sigh. That made Matt a little less angry at her for the events of the last few weeks. "You know my five year old is watching from the stairs. She just barely missed you two having sex in the living room this evening."

"I really didn't need to know that." Matt mumbled into the phone.

"We were not having sex in the living room." Betty said in what sounded like embarrassment.

"That's because I interrupted you. I know my brother." Alexis followed up.

"Alex as much as wanted to hear this uncomfortable conversation, let me talk to my nephew for a few minutes alone."

"Fine. I'll take care of the eavesdroppers. DJ and Lexis back in the living room now. You two have only known each other a few days and you're already conspiring with each other." He heard Alexis say with a long suffering sigh.

"We'll go help." Betty said in a way that was obviously an excuse to get out of there. Matt wished he could join her.

"Why? I actually want to hear this conversation." Daniel said almost whining.

"Daniel, leave with me now." Betty demanded.

"Fine. You're ruining all my fun." Daniel said.

"I'm sure you can find other fun things to do when you are away from my impressionable five-year-old." Alexis mumbled so low that the phone barely picked up what she said.

"What about DJ?" Daniel said whimsically.

"DJ is French. His views on sexuality are a little different. That's probably the only reason why he's not in therapy yet." His aunt said just as he heard the door shut most likely signaling that everyone else had left the room.

"Is it my turn to rake you over the coals for disappearing for over a week before the news of your daughter's paternity came out via twitter?" Matt asked his aunt as sarcastically as possible.

"Not really. It was not my fault that I forgot the British Press is ruthless. They make Suzuki seem like a teddy bear. Didn't we already have this conversation Saturday?" She asked most likely trying to avoid this conversation.

"Not really. You're very elusive when you want to be." Matt told his aunt.

"I have the right to be. The situation was complicated before it was made worse by the fact that I just found out that my daughter's cousin is also her uncle. At first, I didn't want Jordan to find out that Alex cheated on her before his death and then I wanted to tell Alexis before anyone else found out. Unfortunately, she wasn't taking my calls for reasons I still don't know. I didn't even tell him, Amanda did in a voicemail. I had to go to France to straighten everything out in person." she said as an excuse.

"A likely story." He mumbled under his breath but he doubted that she heard him.

"As a woman who had to deal with raising her daughter for five years by herself, I can say you are being a complete idiot." She said this in a tone that was the verbal equivalent to being slapped upside the head.

"You weren't there." Matt said defensively.

"No I wasn't, although Tyler sent me cell phone video of the entire incident. Just be glad I love you enough not to show that to Daniel and Betty. Instead, I had Betty and Daniel call you for your side of the story." His aunt said as if she did him a favor. He really didn't believe her excuses for not saying anything to Lexis but he really didn't have the moral high ground right now. It was best to avoid a conversation about why a she didn't tell anybody about her daughter's father for five years.

"Oh god." Matt said as he put his head in his hands. Matt was sure that Claire was the one who wanted the entire thing filmed as evidence for the lawyers.

"Your mom is so reprehensible there are not words in the English or French languages that aptly describe her. Amanda needed you to take her side and you didn't. That was pretty obvious from the insane message I got on my voice mail alone." Brianna said with a sigh.

"I'm sure in the message she forgot to mention how insane my mother has been about this, oh wait you have the video."

"She didn't need to. I've spent too much of my life around the bitch. This is what your mom does when she doesn't get her way. I've seen a lot worse. You don't want to know what she did to poor Tiffany years ago." Brianna said in a way that told Matt not to ask any more questions about that.

"She's never hated one of my girlfriends like this before. She was mean to Betty but..." Matt trailed off not knowing how to finish that statement.

"She's been mean to all of your girlfriends who have not been light and bright with a trust fund. She probably only became tolerable to Betty once she relies that things were not going to work out." His aunt finished for him. Matt knew this all too well but he never really acknowledged it.

"Even though she doesn't have a trust fund she does meet my mom's other criteria for the mother of her grandchildren." Matt told his aunt.

"Not really. Faye was Puerto Rican and Spencer is Jewish in addition to being gay. Also, her adoptive parents are swingers, and for reasons you don't want to know about, most of the Upper East Side knows this. Then again, Victoria could just be upset that Amanda is pregnant without a ring but I doubt that. It probably has something to do with Amanda's biological mother or rather who she did." Aunt Briana probably thought she was being cryptic with what she said but Matt's mind went to a very bad place very quickly.

"Dad slept with Faye?" Matt asked her in open mouth shock, 2 seconds from dropping his phone on the floor.

"I didn't tell you that." His aunt backpedaled. That tells him that he guessed right. Oh god.

"You might as well say yes. My dad slept with my girlfriend's biological mother. That is just wrong on so many levels. Please tell me I don't share any half-siblings with Amanda anywhere. I don't think I can take finding out about any more secret siblings. Tyler is enough for one lifetime."

"I don't think you have to worry about Faye having any more children but your father does have a latex allergy. Who knows? Rumor has it that Faye couldn't have more children by that point. My personal theory was she was using Bradford's old rival to get him to leave Claire. It didn't work." That explanation just made him feel dirtier.

"Obviously. I still have the urge to throw up. That does explain why my mom is so upset. She could never get passed something like that." Matt said quietly, still trying to digest everything.

"Your mom is crazy. She doesn't need an excuse to be angry. I personally didn't think she would get lawyers involved for at least another two months. Actually I thought that would be your father, but he's handling this better than I thought he would. Apparently, it's just his natural reaction to suggest an abortion. He has issues. He's actually dealing with this better than your mom anyway. I think he is warming up to the idea of being a grandfather. He asked me for a copy of the sonogram. By the way, I need the new version. Am I designing cute little dresses for my baby grandniece, or adorable pantsuits for my grandnephew? God, I'm too young to have a great anything. " His aunt said with a sigh.

"Blame grandpa for having kids in his sixties. I've always thought of you as more of a sister. Dad practically raised you after grandpa died. Fortunately, you will not have to choose what you design." Matt told his aunt with a mix of excitement and fear.

"Okay you're either raising a genderless child or Amanda is having twins?" His Aunt asked half joking.

"One of each. However, the mere thought of the genderless child would probably kill mom which may be a good thing." Matt said sardonically.

"Okay that explains the freaking out. How come that wasn't picked up during the last ultrasound? " His aunt asked the question that he has been thinking about sense he found out about the twins.

"I wasn't there for the first ultrasound, so I don't know. The doctor says it happens sometimes but she really didn't provide a reason. She seemed just as shocked as everyone else when she picked up a second heartbeat. I didn't have time to ask because Amanda was too busy alternating between bursting into tears and throwing cotton balls at me. It does explain why Amanda is a bit bigger than she should be. I'm freaking out more over the fact that my father had sex with my girlfriend's mom. I think this is absolute proof that sex addiction is genetic." Matt added.

"Faye was not Amanda's mom; she was the egg donor who gave her up because she didn't fit with her plans. Amanda feels like you are doing the same thing with her because she doesn't fit your plans." Matt never thought of it that way but his aunt had a point.

"I'm not abandoning her." Matt stated unsure of what to say.

"You need to let her know that, not me. It's getting unbelievably late here and I need to put Alexis to bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow." His aunt said as an excuse. Matt wondered which Alexis she was planning to put to bed but did not ask. Again, he really didn't want to know if his aunt was 'special friends' with Alexis again.

"OK." Matt said as he hung up grateful that that particular conversation was over.

* * *

However, no matter how uncomfortable that conversation was nothing can ever beat the current situation. It all began with Monique summoning him to her house this morning for intern babysitting duty.

"Did I tell you how much I hate you right now, yet?" Monique yelled when he showed up at her apartment a little before 7:30 AM as instructed. Justin was already there with his two suitcases for the three day trip. That was something his aunt would do. Beside Justin, was the teenage girl that was with Monique months ago at the drugstore when he dashed out to buy a pregnancy test during the middle of a very insane Suarez Christmas. Antonella seems even more annoyed now.

"Several times yesterday, but not today." She said as he was allowed into her apartment.

"How is Amanda doing this morning? I tried to talk to her but she threw up on my shoes." Matt asked Monique.

"Better. She's only breaking into tears every other minute according to Marc." Monique said as she and the other two burst into giggles. "Too bad, he didn't send me footage of that. I may be willing to forgive you for the current situation after I post that to the company web site." Matt could see her doing that. It was moments like these that made him glad they never ended up at the same prep school.

"It will take a crowbar to get her away from Marc right now. She's currently terrorizing Wilhelmina for her unwilling role in what happened. Now it's time for your punishment." Matt could tell from her tone alone that this was going to be bad.

"I don't understand why you're so upset about what happened." He said in annoyance.

"Your girlfriend is driving everybody crazy because you wouldn't be a man and grow up. My wedding is days away along with the one year anniversary of my best friend's death. I don't need this." Monique said obviously stressed out.

"That's not what happened and you know it." Matt said defensively.

"I know what happened. Tyler sent me the video. Is DNA really that important to you? If you loved her for everything she is, it wouldn't be." Monique said sadly as she grabbed a garment bag from a couch.

"Can we talk about this later when I don't have a million things to do?" Matt asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Fine, whatever. You have a train to catch in less than 2 hours and you have to pick up one more person. Great I have no idea where my keys are. I hate driving." Monique said as she started looking for her keys.

"Why do I have to pick someone up?" Matt asked in confusion.

"Consider it part of your punishment. Because Amanda will not leave Marc's side nor does she want to spend 3 hours on a train with you, she is not going to DC until after the wedding. Therefore, her duty as a babysitter for the underage interns falls to you. You need to pick up Justin's boy toy and assure Mrs. Williams that her baby boy will be fine. Just make sure you keep our favorite teenage lovebirds from making out on the train or joining the Amtrak version of the 'mile high club'. Just make sure you are all at the State Department by 6:00. We're doing the shoot after hours as not to be disruptive." He noticed Justin had a wicked glint in his eyes at that moment. Matt knew he was screwed.

"I got to go." Monique started just as she finally found her keys. "I have to squeeze in an 8:00 AM wedding meeting with my mother before I head up to a very jailhouse wedding: Wilhelmina edition. Also one of the hair stylists canceled so I need you to get a replacement. I packed ginger ale and extra medicine in your bag, Antonella . Are you sure you don't want to stay with your brother? Maybe you should see Dr. Kim." Monique asked turning to Antonella.

"Of course I'm going. I'm not missing the Spy Museum and getting out of the last week of school because of some stupid stomach Bug that won't go away." Monique just rolled her eyes at the replied.

"I'm sure that's the only reason you're going and I'm willing to do anything to get you away from your boyfriend for a few days." Monique mumbled under her breath before leaving out the door.

"How could you do that to Amanda?" Justin asked the minute they were sitting comfortably in the van driving them to Justin's Boyfriend's house. Matt despises uncomfortable conversations that occur in moving vehicles because there was no way to avoid something uncomfortable, and jumping out the window was just not an option. Matt had a feeling this was going to be another one of those uncomfortable situations.

"Even though my biological father ignored me for the first 10 years of my life he never denied that I was his child. You're completely screwed." Justin said as he sent a text message to his boyfriend to let him know that they were on their way.

"How do you even know what happened with Amanda yesterday? I seriously doubt your dad ever worried about raising someone else's child. You're too young to understand." Matt said before he remembered a conversation with Betty about Justin's father being shot to death. He was getting really good at putting his foot in his mouth.

"Monique showed us the video." Matt winced at that. Maybe jumping out of the window wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Also, my aunt and my future uncle tell me everything. You're right my father never had to worry about my paternity because he ran away and didn't try to get into my life until I was a preteen right before he died. No, Bobby is the one raising a kid that's not his. He's been more of a father to me than my biological father ever was. I know he doesn't just care about me because he is sleeping with my mother." Justin said with high amounts of irritation. Justin had a point. Matt spent more time with his nanny then his actual parents. Was biology really that important in the grand scheme of things? He didn't have time to think of that because of what Antonella said next.

"I'm glad my brother isn't like you. If he were he probably wouldn't even be marrying Monique. You know Monique can't have kids. He doesn't care. Even though I act like a brat half the time, she is a lot better than his last girlfriend. I hate sourdough girl. She actually tried to convince Gio that I would be better off living with my aunt that I absolutely hate. Monique was the one who wanted to take care of me. She was willing to turn down the job offer in London just so I wouldn't be uprooted from my life. I was the one who told her to take it." Antonella said this as she started to look slightly nauseous. Thanks to being thrown up on multiple times by his girlfriend, including that morning, he knew that look a little too well and seriously hoped that Monique packed some of those special paper bags for such an occasion. It was probably a stomach bug because he doubted a 15 year old would have morning sickness. Then again, he was supposed to report Monday to a place where that was actually quite common, so he really shouldn't judge.

"Maybe that's what you really want." Justin mumbled under his breath.

"What do you mean by that?" Matt asked confused by his words.

"Maybe you want this baby to be Daniel's so you don't have to grow up. You don't want to be a father so you are looking for an excuse to run away. As somebody who had a father who didn't bother to see him for the first decade of his life, I know what I'm talking about. I suggest running away now. It's much easier when you don't know your father at all." The bitterness was very evident in Justin's voice.

"I'm not afraid of being a father and I'm not trying to run away." Matt argued back.

"That's the way it looks. Again, I should know." Justin said trying to conceal his anger as he went back to playing with his phone.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Antonella said just before Monique's almost sister in law threw up on his shoes. He was sure Justin was taking cell phone video of this.

* * *

30 minutes later they showed up to Austin's after a quick stop to switch cabs and change. Thank god the hotel in DC was located in a mall because Matt seriously needed to go shoe shopping after this. He left a still slightly sick Antonella in the van with Justin as he ran upstairs to pick up his third charge. He half expected to see Austin waiting for them on the stairs but he doubted Mrs. Williams would be okay with that.

Instead, he walked up to the third floor and rang the doorbell only to have a dark hair woman in her early forties open the door. She looked familiar but maybe Matt just slept with her at some point during the worst of the sex addiction. Let's just say he didn't stick to his own age group and leave it at that. This may become awkward very quickly.

"Hi, I'm Matt Hartley from Mode magazine. I will be keeping an eye on your son during his time in DC." Matt said in introduction as he extended his hand but she didn't take it. Instead, she was looking at him in open mouth shock. At that moment Matt was 90% sure he slept with this woman at some point. That could be the only explanation for her completely shocked expression and the fact she seems so familiar. Matt was quickly trying to remember exactly how old Justin's boyfriend was. The first time he saw Austin, Matt swore he had to be a long lost cousin or something. He breathed a sigh of relief when Matt realized that he didn't lose his virginity until two years after Austin was most likely conceived.

"You're definitely not Miss Tannen-Somers, Matthew." The woman said using his real name. Even his mom didn't call him that unless she was ready to explode.

"Amanda was a bit under the weather this morning and I'm filling in." Matt said as an excuse before he asked the real question on his mind. "How do you know my real name?"

"You don't remember me?" She asked with a quizzical expression.

"Did we sleep together? If we did, I am sorry I don't remember your name or called you the next day. I was a complete mess back then and I apologize for my behavior. My therapist said I was using sex with random people to make up for the fact that my parents never actually showed me love." Matt said that part sarcastically.

"I know your parents. I think your therapist may be onto something. No, we never slept together. That would just be wrong on so many levels. I always hoped you would pursue your passion in the arts but I never thought you'd end up working at a fashion magazine. That was always your aunt's thing." As she said this, that's when everything clicked in Matt's head. Her hair was much darker and she no longer wore what his teenage mind refered to as sexy Liberian glasses but this was Tiffany Jagger. If rumor was true, and anything that came from his aunt usually was, this was the woman who was pregnant with his brother or sister before his father had her push down a flight of stairs in the middle of nowhere.

"Tiffany Jagger?" Matt asked hesitantly still in shock.

"It's Williams now. I got married a couple years ago. We moved to New York last year, against my better judgment, because Richard got a job here." She said in a way that made Matt sure she never wanted to come back to this city. Considering what happened with his father, he couldn't blame her.

"I personally think moving to New York was the best thing ever." Austin said as he moved out of his bedroom carrying just one small duffel bag. Unlike his boyfriend, at least Austin knew how to pack.

"That's because you met Justin and you can take acting classes here. I have to agree with you. He's a good boy even if my husband wished he was a nice girl instead." She said kissing her son on the forehead. His mother never did that with him unless cameras were watching. At that moment, Matt really began to look at Austin again. He definitely could see pieces of Tiffany in him but also things that were familiar. Just like the first time he saw Austin he still felt like he could be a Hartley.

"When have I ever cared about Robert's opinion regarding anything?" Austin said referring to his stepfather by his first name, an obvious sign that he did not have a very good relationship with his stepfather.

"Never. Just try to behave in DC and do something educational." She said pulling her son into another hug. Austin pulled away like any good 15 year old.

"I'll try." Austin replied.

Tiffany must have gotten pregnant again immediately after she miscarried, Matt thought to himself doing the math again in his head. Actually, that would only make sense if she gave birth to Austin at least three months early. That just didn't seem practical.

"You will take care of my baby?" Matt barely heard her words as all the pieces slid into place. She never had a miscarriage. She probably lied about it to keep her unborn baby safe after the incident. Said child was currently standing in front of him and again he looks like a Hartley. This meant only one thing, this kid was his half brother and he was dating his ex girlfriend's nephew. The thought alone made him dizzy.

"I think I have to." Matt said as he promptly went unconscious.

To be continued.

So how many people saw that one coming? The next chapter is mostly done but I want to add a little bit more to it so we can get to the D/B first time a little faster. I'll try to have it up as soon as I get more energy back.


	20. Becoming

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Now the moment that some of you have been waiting for, Wilhelmina's wedding. That other moment that everyone else is waiting for will happen very soon as well.

Disclaimer: All actual famous people mentioned in this chapter are used in traditional Ugly Betty fashion and none of this is to be taken seriously. I don't really know any of these individuals personally.

**Chapter 18: Becoming**

* * *

"This is Suzuki St Pierre with your daily fashion update. We are just four days away from the fashion event of the wedding season and everybody is waiting with bated breath to see who the bride is wearing. On June 12, the newly named Mode EIC Monique Osborn will be marrying her deli boy boyfriend in a lavish ceremony that will make Chelsea Clinton green with envy at a location so exclusive we can't tell you yet. According to an unnamed source, Guests will receive a text message with the exact location an hour before the ceremony.

"Rumor also has it that not only will the wedding dress be designed by recluse designer Brianna West-Hartley, who hasn't done a wedding dress since before her daughter was born, but West-Hartley will be in attendance with her baby's daddy turn mother Alexis Meade. According to another unnamed source, West-Hartley is a longstanding friend of Monique Osborn, since her _Wedding Bell_ days. Even the designer's daughter, Alexis West-Hartley-Meade, will be in the bridal party as the flower girl, most likely wearing a creation that her mother designed just for her. It looks like Monique Osborn is going to be upstaged at her own wedding by her guests." Suzuki said with a laugh as a recent photo was shown on the screen of one of Wilhelmina's worst enemies, fashion designer to the chunky Brianna West-Hartley with her other worst enemy Alexis 'the attempted baby killer' Meade in London complete with both of their children. They almost looked like a perfectly normal family, if it was perfectly normal for your father to disappear for the first five years of your childhood to have gender reassignment surgery.

"Serves her right." Wilhelmina said as she stood several feet away from the television in her ivory wedding dress/suit wearing her normal expression of annoyance. Her outfit was much less ostentatious than the Vera Wang creation she wore for her ill-fated wedding to Bradford but it was still tasteful in its simplistic elegance.

"Why are you upset? I thought you were going to her wedding." Marc said giving her a strange look as he adjusted her cream Rosette Del Nore hat. Nothing but the best for her wedding to the real love of her life, despite everything, she could say that she really did love him. Other than Marc, Connor was one of the first people that really knew her. Actually, Connor knew things that Wilhelmina was not ready to tell Marc yet, including certain things that happened during her teenage years that were a closely guarded secret for the sake of her father's political career. He knew what set her on the path of becoming the person she is now and what role her stepmother played. Connor knew her underneath the botox and plastic surgery.

"Actually, she is invited to your wedding. She would be here right now but Monique is dealing with an ill teenager and a million other things for her wedding, along with terrorizing Matt. We were up until midnight, redoing the seating chart as we simultaneously rework the plans for the National Zoo." Marc said the part about Matt with a bright smile. Apparently, Matt Hartley was Marc's personal Daniel Meade, except apparently he had a more personal reason for his hatred other than Matt buying his place at Meade with daddy's money.

"She's going to meet us at the prison by 11. In addition, you're sitting between Monique's father and Matt's mother." Marc told her that last part almost sheepishly. Apparently, the new queen of Mode decided to put all the people she hated at one table. As long as Wilhelmina didn't have to sit with Monique's mother, she could deal with it.

"Lovely." Wilhelmina said sarcastically. "She's Connors friend or rather frienemy, not mine. Why do I need a reason to dislike Monique? I have always disliked Monique since our first meeting at Fashion Week years ago where she managed to deck me at a Ralph Lauren show." Wilhelmina said with trademark annoyance.

That was not entirely true, but she was not going to tell Marc the truth. Actually, the animosity goes back to when the Senator almost married Monique's mother and started treating his almost future stepdaughter better than he has ever treated any of his actual children. Wilhelmina was still bitter over the fact Monique was able to get her father to arrange things so that Connor would get out early in exchange for Wilhelmina leaving Mode behind. Wilhelmina wondered if the Senator would do that for her if she asked. It would probably be bad for his tough on crime image she thought bitterly. She did not even bother inviting him partially for that reason as she told Connor the last time she saw him before the wedding. She didn't shed a tear because it was impossible for her to cry about this and it had nothing to do with her most recent botox. She cried her last tears over her father a long time ago.

"Was that the same year of the cat fight with Paris Hilton? There was a rumor about it when I was at _Vogue_ but it never made the Gossip Report. I'm surprised that didn't go viral." Marc asked her.

"I have never been involved in a cat fight of any type with anyone." Wilhelmina said in annoyance. "That's sort of behavior is beneath me."

"Other than mommy Meade." Marc mumbled under his breath before continuing. "I meant Monique and the pseudo celebrity."

"I have no idea which fight you are talking about. They never liked each other. You'll be amazed what people can get away with, after their husband was murdered by a completely different trashed socialite too stupid to take a cab home. Everyone was giving Monique a free pass that year, even me. She would have been hospitalized otherwise or I would have had one of my friends take care of it. I just don't want to hear about Miss Mary sunshine's wedding. She is not the only one getting married to the love of her life this week. Yet, that is all that annoying fake queen talks about. If I hear one more detail about her perfect wedding, I'm going to throw up." Wilhelmina motioned to the television where Suzuki's overly cheery lackey was conducting an interview with the catering staff, who were being completely mum about the menu.

Betty's father and his overly pompous celebrity chef boss were part of the group. Said boss was promoting his new restaurant in Beverly Hills for most of the interview instead of discussing the wedding. The two were currently going on about how in love the couple are. It was just nauseating. Of course, at that moment Wilhelmina heard the sound of retching in the master bathroom followed by the sound of flushing. Apparently, someone else agreed with her.

"It looks like somebody already did." Marc said as he put the finishing touches on her hair as he ignored his little friend in the bathroom.

"Perfect. You are going to be the most fashionable bride that prison has ever seen." Marc said with a smile with high amounts of foe flattery.

"Marc did you bring any more of the ginger ale I like?" A scream from the bathroom from the nauseous one cut off her snappy retort before she could make one.

"Sorry Betty, I had to take a throwing up break. I'm sorry I didn't call you back and that Daniel was worried about me losing the baby until you got a hold of the dick. Although, I guess it's babies now. Apparently, the doctor missed a heartbeat the first time around. Whatever. Did he say that he missed me? Never mind I don't care what Matt thinks. Unlike Matt, Daniel actually cares about something other than himself, now. You are so lucky that Daniel actually loves you. Matt is a giant self centered prick and I had to turn off my phone to avoid his calls." Marc's pregnant little friend said, as she emerged from the facilities still talking on the phone to Betty Suarez, Wilhelmina assumed.

Just like Faye, it seems like the loud one will be spending the majority of her pregnancy hunched over a toilet. At least she was not crying like 45 minutes earlier when Marc showed up at her apartment to get ready for the ceremony with his unexpected visitor.

"I think Mo packed a few bottles in your baby prep bag along with some extra mouthwash. Please use it. Actually, go ahead and used the entire bottle. You need it." Marc called out to the blonde with a disgusted expression on his face.

"Also, tell Betty to stop doing inappropriate things with her boy toy in public. I threw up a little in my mouth this morning, when I saw the security camera footage of Daniel, most likely trying to give her a hand job in an elevator on the net. Why couldn't he do that to me?" Marc said, with complete disgust before mumbling the last part. She couldn't blame him, the description alone made her extremely sick. One would think by now that Daniel learned to keep his hands to himself in an elevator. Then again, Betty was probably more receptive.

"Why is she here again? You know how I hate sharing you with other people." Wilhelmina asked in annoyance as she sat down on her bedroom couch gently as not to damage her dress. Even if her wedding pictures will be taken in a prison recroom, they will be fabulous. Connor tried to talk her out of having the wedding so soon but she didn't want to wait. She was worried that he would try to change his mind again, in some misguided attempt to do what he thought was best for her. Wilhelmina learned a long time ago when someone makes a decision like that, it's always about what's best for the other person.

"I have other friends too." Marc started with a sigh of annoyance. "Amanda is a little needy right now because she broke up with Matt yesterday, I think. I'm not sure, because she can't talk about it without breaking into tears. There is also the twins' thing that's adding to her panic. The thought of raising two kids, most likely by herself, has her more terrified than Betty in front of a scale. Mandy won't go anywhere without me, Monique, or Claire Meade. Spending the morning with her is your punishment, according to a fashion editor who will not be named, for triggering this situation." Wilhelmina swore she almost heard irritation in Marc's words but she couldn't be sure over the sound of the continuing pointless conversation between Faye's daughter and Daniel's lover.

They were currently talking about Betty being a bridesmaid in the ceremony, because, almost all of Monique's original bridal party were backing out for various reasons. So many people have backed out of the wedding that at this point, Daniel was one defection from escorting his flower girl niece down the aisle unless Betty agreed to be in the wedding. This made Wilhelmina unbelievably happy. She hoped the wedding would be a complete disaster.

"I assume that you're referring to the vodka sucking geriatric vampire, but I'm not sure because she's not an editor of anything except that insert for the post menopausal set. Amanda's baby's daddy running away is not my fault regardless of what I told Victoria. I currently believe she only agreed to play with me again to get as much dirt on Amanda as possible. It doesn't matter anyway. Some individuals tend to do anything for the sake of image. Matt like his mother and father are the type of people who only care about appearance. She's better off without him if he is completely unwilling to stand up to his mother." Wilhelmina said, as she tried to suppress the thoughts of a similar situation. It wasn't the same thing though.

"I did find raising my daughter by myself and I didn't have you until the teenage years. Amanda will be fine." Wilhelmina said reassuring Marc realizing that he was worried about the situation. Since she almost died, Wilhelmina was trying to be a better friend to Marc. It was a lot easier when she just considered him her servant.

Wilhelmina thought she heard Marc whisper, "She turned out great, except for the fact that she tried to blackmail you. Then again, maybe that was what you were going for." However, she was obviously hearing things, because Marc would never have the spine to say something like that out loud. She trained him well. Then again, he was working with Osborn now, so who knows. Osborn has the uncanny ability to speak the truth even when Wilhelmina didn't want to hear it. Maybe Marc was picking up on this.

"You're the one who told Matt's mother about the doctor's appointment. The wicked witch of the Upper East Side decided to show up with her goon lawyers to force me to have a DNA test. My dick of a former boyfriend pretty much told me that he couldn't deal with the fact that my kids could be Daniel's. It doesn't matter that he was fucking Daniel's chubby lover at the time, hypocritical asshole." Amanda yelled as she approached Wilhelmina without fear before becoming almost Betty like, complete with overly sugary voice. She blamed the pregnancy hormones for the woman's bad judgment.

"Sorry, Betty, I didn't mean it in a bad way. You know that I love you like the sister that I never had because my mother chose her career over me. Even if the babies are Daniel's, I'm not going to ask him to leave you. It would be fruitless to try. Daniel wouldn't hurt you like that because you are his other half. By the way, the footage from the hotel elevator was hot I can't believe you two are not sleeping together yet. Then again, I do consider a hand job sex. What are you waiting for? If you don't tickle his ginger soon, I swear I'm going to lock you two in a room with a box of condoms. Please use them." Marc started making gagging noises as his friend spoke.

Wilhelmina was half-tempted to smack Amanda upside the head for her earlier comments if she wasn't pregnant, but she does have some morals. Fortunately, the baby sickness kicked in before Wilhelmina did something that even she found morally irreprehensible.

"I think I have to throw up again. I'll call after the ceremony and I'll send pictures." She said, just before throwing her cell phone on the floor as she ran out of the room as fast as a woman in her condition and high heels could.

"Just not on the carpet again." Marc called out with disgust.

"Marc, will you please tell your little friend to back off before I hurt her?" Wilhelmina said in a clipped voice.

"I'll take care of it. She didn't mean it. It's the baby hormones." Marc said, walking off to the bathroom leaving Wilhelmina with only the company of Suzuki St Pierre's ramblings. She sincerely hoped that by this point he was done talking about Osborne's wedding.

"Another Fashion Wedding is apparently in the works, will be a little bit more low-key. Rumor has it that a former Mode editor is getting married this week. Unfortunately, it's not the dashing Daniel, now officially of Mode UK, marrying his former assistant and current London Hub EIC Betsy Sanchez." Suzuki said, onscreen as they showed an image of Betty from her first year at Mode complete with braces and loud miss matching patterns, that could induce a seizure followed by the leaked footage of Daniel doing inappropriate things to his girlfriend in an elevator. The image did induce nausea.

"The idiot cannot even remember her name. Did he really have to use that picture or the footage from the elevator?" Wilhelmina groused to herself as she started looking for the remote.

"An unnamed source has confirmed that Wilhelmina Slater will be marrying her jailhouse boyfriend Connor Owens today, in a private ceremony courtesy of the Federal Corrections Services. For those of you who only remember the latest styles, Owens was the former CFO of Meade publishing who robbed the company blind before kicking off the sexiest international manhunt since the Fugitive. Either love is truly blind or this is the most fashionable case of Stockholm Syndrome we have ever encountered. That certainly does explain the jailhouse chic last fall. I'm sure the people at Mode would not be happy about this union. Could that be why Wilhelmina Slater was bought out? The answer to that is unknown but it seems highly possible according to a close personal acquaintance of Monique Osborn. However, I'm sure whatever the case is, the groom will look stunning in a nice blue jumpsuit designed by the prison jumpsuit company." You could easily hear the condescension in his voice as he spun the story for the sake of ratings. Suzuki was a judgmental prick.

How dare he speculate about why she left Mode? Wilhelmina wanted to do something different. Isabella would be different even if she would be running a fashion magazine again at least that's what she told herself. Was it really that different? When her and Connor talked on the phone about everything she uncovered recently he suggested that she's sincerely considered other options. Wilhelmina wondered if he was right.

"Asshole," Wilhelmina mumbled under her breath as she pointed the remote control at the television.

"However, everything won't be perfect for the former queen of Mode. Apparently, daddy dearest won't be there to give his eldest daughter away for the second time. Fashion TV has just secured exclusive rights to cell phone video of Wilhelmina Slater's former assistant and New Junior Creative Director of _Mode_, Marc St. James, telling the good senator off during what looks to be a fashion shoot in the middle of the U.S. Capitol Building." There on the screen was a shaky image of Marc and the Senator nearly screaming at each other. She knew that Marc was yelling at her father because he didn't want to be there at her wedding. If she was a different person she would be touched by this display, but she was Wilhelmina Slater. She didn't do 'touched'.

"Marc!"

* * *

Amanda hated throwing up. That seemed funny because she used to do it voluntarily during her bulimia phase. The doctor said the worst of it should be over by now, but nothing in this pregnancy has gone normal. The fact that she was having twins was evidence of that. Her blood sugar was all over the place in addition to her being sick all the time. Now they have her on a stupid pill for the gestation diabetes and she was going to have to watch, in addition to poking her finger twice a day. Her doctor wanted her to stop working but she said no. She couldn't afford it especially with the puppy money ending soon and she was not even spending half of her income on clothing any more. She was meeting with her biological mother's former lawyer Friday, most likely to be told that now that the dog was dead she wouldn't receive money to take care of him anymore. Therefore, she needed to work.

She wouldn't take money from Matt before what happened yesterday and she surely won't do it now. That would essentially prove the wicket mommy right, and she couldn't do that. Amanda loved Matt, but she wasn't sure that he loved her. He already left her three times and they haven't even been seeing each other a year yet. Once for Betty, once for Africa, and once for his own insecurities. Running always seemed to be what Matt was good that. It was obvious that she could not depend on Matt and therefore she had to be ready to take care of her two children herself.

Amanda was used to being left behind, but her children will not be. She knew that Matt doesn't stick with anything. The moment he becomes bored he moves on. She couldn't help but wonder if Matt was merely using the remote possibility that she could be pregnant by Daniel to get the hell away from her. Maybe she should thank mommy Hartley for showing Matt's true colors. It was better that Matt left her now before both she and her children became attached.

If Amanda was being honest with herself, she was always worried about Matt leaving her behind, again. It was the number one reason why she wouldn't move in with him. Ever since he came back in April, Amanda has been expecting him to get tired of her and the prospect of being a father. Amanda wanted to be wrong this time, but apparently, she was not.

At the same time, a part of her still wanted him to be there to hold her hair back as she made good use of Wilhelmina's toilet. She tried to tell herself that it was just so that her hair would stay as stylish as possible, but she knew it was because she cared about him. Amanda loves Matt even though she wished she did not. She didn't want to do this alone but she may have to.

Just like she told Betty a few minutes earlier, she didn't expect anything from Daniel and wasn't going to use this baby to keep him away from Betty. She will never be Charlie.

Of course, Daniel himself was another story. She knew Daniel wanted to be a dad. He was willing to help her raise this child regardless in whatever capacity she wanted. He was even planning to be in New York when she went into labor because she asked him to. She didn't want to be pregnant by Daniel because she couldn't deny him his chance of being a father because he was too good of a friend.

In contrast, the idea of being a father petrified Matt. Just like with Daniel, she wasn't going to use her pregnancy to make him stay. It was his choice. She had a feeling no matter what the paternity test said Matt would not choose to stay with her.

The tears began to prick her eyes again as she felt her hair be pulled back and a damp cloth pressed against her forehead. It was Marc with baby bag in hand. She was so lost in her thoughts that she did not hear him turn on the water.

"Do you want your ginger ale now?" Marc asked as Amanda fell against the cold tiles of the black marble floor.

"In a minute, I think I might throw up again. I didn't think I had anything left in my stomach." Amanda said taking the damp cloth from his hand.

"I mostly came in here to tell you to back off. Wilhelmina is 30 seconds from planting one of her custom wedding shoes in your skull. That would just be bad for the babies." Marc said nicely.

"It was her fault. If she wasn't trading information about my pregnancy to Matt's mom, that woman wouldn't have screwed up everything." Amanda said angrily knowing that wasn't entirely true.

"Do you really believe that? The woman has done everything in her power to make you miserable since she found out that you are carrying her grandkid, now grandkids. Even with Monique's connections, you haven't received a single call for a styling job in over a week. She would have just served the papers at Mode, if Wilhelmina didn't tell her about the doctor's appointment. Don't be mad at her. Do you really think what happened with Matt yesterday was just cause, by the fact she had sex with one other person seven weeks before you two got together?" Marc asked as he handed her a bottle of mouthwash. So maybe he did have a really valid point. What happen yesterday was going to happen eventually no matter what.

"I don't know what to believe." Amanda mumbled as she grabbed the mouthwash. "What is your obsession with my breath?"

"I just don't like the smell of half digested food. It reminds me of every time I had to Wrangell the models before the promotion." Marc said just as she uncapped the mouthwash.

"I know Matt is just looking for a reason to leave. If there was a real chance of me being pregnant by Daniel I would've had the DNA test done before he left. In my heart, I know Matt is just using it as an excuse to run away. It's what he does. I know that Marc. I don't need you to tell me that. Why do you think I still have a copy of _Oh Fuck, I'm a single parent, _which I read almost every night. I know I will I have to do this on my own and I am fucking terrified." Amanda said with tears running down her face.

"You're not in this alone. You have me. We do everything together. How is this any different?" Marc was just about to envelop her in a hug when Wilhelmina started screaming. Amanda has seen too many Wilhelmina meltdowns to actually follow behind as Marc scurried off. Instead, she made good use of the mouthwash and the ginger ale left in the bathroom. Yet, her natural desire for the best gossip resulted in her standing outside Wilhelmina's bedroom door. This was not eaves dropping; she was just being a good friend.

"I don't think its right that he completely ignores you. He's not coming to your wedding but he has time to stare at the models. He didn't even come to the hospital when you were in ICU. He had no trouble whatsoever using what happened to try to pass some legislation. He did not even send a card. " Marc explained. Amanda was expecting additional screaming but that didn't happen.

"However, my father was kind enough to get Connor's sentence reduced which is something I appreciate much more. That is just the way our relationship has always been. He will give me anything I want except for his time as long as everyone still perceives him as the perfect senator. He has never been around since he left me with stepmom number one for the sake of his career. Why should now be different?" Amanda could hear irritation in Wilhelmina's voice. Amanda should've been paying attention to the footsteps in the other room otherwise she wouldn't have been almost hit by the opening door.

"If we get into the town car now, will you throw up on my shoes before we get to the prison? You're just like your mother." Wilhelmina asked Amanda with an angry glare but didn't wait for an answer as she sped by. "Marc we are leaving now."

"What happened?" Amanda asked in a whisper as she ran back into the room to get her matching caramel purse.

"I'm not sure. Finish drinking your ginger ale and have a cracker. If you throw up on her shoes, I can't save you." Marc said as they walked to the front door, but they stopped midway due to the screaming.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Wilhelmina screamed at the visitor.

"Is that anyway to greet your only sister? Then again, maybe I'm not your sister. I can never tell if you behaved more like my bossy older sister or an overprotective mom." Even to Amanda that sounded a little strange but she didn't say anything as she tried to remember who this person was.

"Somebody from the family had to be here to give you a way? Like dad ever would." The woman called from the doorway as Wilhelmina continued to look displeased.

"That is Wilhelmina's sister? She was Daniel's ex girlfriend who tried to fry Betty because she was convinced he was in love with her?" Amanda asked for clarification.

"Yes, but I think it was the other way around. At the time, I thought she was as unhinged as Wilhelmina claimed she was. Given the circumstances, I think she was just crazy enough to see what we didn't." Marc mumbled back.

"This is not good." Amanda said thinking of what was going to happen. Amanda already had her phone out to send an emergency message to Daniel.

"Wilhelmina is making her 'get me the hell out of here' face. This is going to be a long wedding." Marc said with a sigh of annoyance as he pulled out his own cell phone.

* * *

"Even though she threw up on Matt, she still wants to go to DC?" Monique sighed into the phone as she waited for everyone to show up. She was currently talking to Justin's mom who agreed to not only fill in for their missing hairdresser on short notice, but also agreed to chaperone the interns now that Matt was currently in an emergency room with Mrs. Williams keeping him company. Apparently, one of her new interns' mother was the former Assistant of Matt's father and knew Matt ever since he was a little kid. Monique personally believes Hilda is only coming to DC to keep Justin from doing inappropriate things with his boyfriend, but Monique would take anything at this moment.

"I don't think she is that sick, probably just food poisoning or gas. Don't worry we're at the drugstore now. Do you let her spend time alone with her boyfriend?" Hilda asked for reasons Monique could not understand.

"Not if I can help it but she is too good at sneaking out. I'm putting her on the pill for a reason. Fine, let her come onto DC. If I say no, she will just show up at the hotel by herself and that is not a good thing in her current state. Do you know why Matt lost consciousness?" Monique questioned.

"Tiffany didn't provide any details when she called me to get the kids. Justin was the one who suggested I bring a suitcase." She replied.

"Thanks again for filling in. I will call Tiffany about Matt later when Amanda isn't due to show up any moment. I'm still in the room where the wedding is supposed to take place waiting for everyone to show up even if the guard took Connor's suit from me 30 minutes ago. They're not here yet and there's only so much decorating I'm willing to do for a wedding that's not mine." She said putting more crepe paper. She asks for special permission to decorate just to drive Wilhelmina crazy. The room now looks especially tacky.

"They probably would have let me in here earlier if you would have handed over your cell phone." She heard a man say with an Australian accent that she would recognize anywhere.

"Not happening. I have a company to run. Hilda, call me when you actually get onto the train station. Talk to Lemanda about changing the tickets for a later train." Monique said hanging up her phone and putting it in her pocket before turning to Connor.

"Please. You're paying the guards enough that you can probably have your own cell phone." Two of the guards looked at her funny when she said that because it was probably true. "You look good for a guy who's about to get married to the queen of evil at the jail house chapel of love. Do you like? I decorated myself." Monique said pointing to the Party City wedding decoration she picked up. She even shows colors that would clash with lots of orange.

It was hard for her to try to get along with someone who used to be a friend, but the other thing Molly asked for her to do was get over her anger especially that anger involving Connor. Since she accomplished the impossible of getting Daniel and Betty together she would work on Molly's other request. That involved bringing the expensive suit to the jailhouse and not being argumentative with Connor. He was also laughing at the decorations but that was just his sense of humor. Wilhelmina will hate it.

"No one looks bad in Armani. You are a brave woman to decorate like this. Do you have to call her that?" Connor asked.

"Yes and I needed some entertainment. Too bad the guards wouldn't let me bring in a chocolate fountain." Monique replied.

"I wanted to wait until my release in December but Wilhelmina did not. She deserves more than this." Connor told her as he looked at the fake white doves Monique put up.

"That's because she didn't want to have to deal with a runaway groom again. Actually none of us do. You really don't want to know what she did to her subordinates that week but it involved making someone urinate on themselves during a staff meeting according to the rumor mill." Monique said slightly uncomfortably. She wondered if she could get away with playing computer games. Where the hell where they?

"Although today it seems like she's the runaway bride." Connor said somehow picking up on her unsaid thought.

"They're probably stuck in traffic." She gave as an excuse even she didn't believe that. "I'll send a text message." Monique said as she took out her Phone, receiving dirty looks from the guards in the process.

She didn't need to send Marc a message because there was already something from him in her inbox. She probably missed it because she was busy with everything else on maybe she didn't get it earlier because she was in the middle of a prison. As she read the quick message, she realized this was not the type of thing you want waiting in your text message box for who knows how long. Actually, this was not the type of message she wanted to read at all.

Wilhelmina's crazy sister was in town again. This would be bad on its own. The fact that Daniel was flying into New York tomorrow now practically engaged to the girl his then girlfriend accused him of fooling around with made everything a million times worse. Even though this city is huge, Monique was sure the two would meet up because the universe was evil like that. It must be Fashion Week somewhere for her luck to be this bad.

"Oh fuck." Monique mumbled because that was the only thing you could say at a moment like this.

"Is something wrong with Wilhelmina? Was there an accident? " Connor asked her with genuine concern.

"Much to my own personal displeasure, your fiancé is physically fine. Mentally, I'm not sure." Monique said holding up the phone for Connor to see. She would pass it to him but one of the guards looked trigger-happy.

"This is not good. Meeting the stepdaughter is just what I wanted today." Connor mumbled under his breath confusing Monique.

"Rene is your sister in law and not stepdaughter. Although from what Marc told me, they are both equally insane. Apparently, Wilhelmina is the good daughter. Wilhelmina's evil schemes usually fall short of murder." Connor was slightly twitchy when Monique corrected him. This made her suspicious about what Connor said but she didn't have time to ask because an angrier than usual Wilhelmina plowed her way past two guards. Things are bad when Wilhelmina doesn't even notice the tacky decorations as she starts making out with her soon to be husband before the ceremony even starts.

As she sat next to a crying Amanda as Marc officiated, Monique couldn't help but wonder if Connor wasn't just confused. She knew Connor didn't make mistakes. What did that mean? Monique didn't have time to think about that as Amanda burst into tears after Marc announced the happy couple as husband and wife and Connor had to prevent his new wife from hurting her sister. It was a beautiful ceremony.

* * *

**33 years earlier **

"How the hell could you do this to me and your father?" Wanda's stepmother said the moment they stepped inside the New York Town house. Wanda is surprised she lasted that long. She was expecting to be screened at, the moment the doctor came and told them that she was at least three months pregnant. Wanda didn't need to be told that because she knew exactly the moment it happened.

"It wasn't like I was asking to be raped." Wanda said angrily.

"Do you expect me to believe that? You are a skinning 15 year old girl with no breast, a big nose, and nappy hair. No one would sleep with you unless you were spreading your legs willingly. It was probably that little friend of yours." Her stepmother said with a vicious snicker.

Wanda wanted to tell her that was impossible because that little friend was not interested in any woman, least of all her. However, the vicious woman would just twist it around to make her feel miserable. Instead, she stayed silent.

"It doesn't matter how you got pregnant, the damage is done. Do you know what this will do to your father's career?" Wanda wanted to laugh. Of course, that is the first thing she would bring out. That is all anybody in this family ever cared about. Ever since her father ran for City Council when she was a little girl Wanda has been nothing more than a prop for her father's political career. Then again, before that she was a prop for his legal career. She was nothing more than a fashion accessory and she had no idea how to function as something more than that.

"He was the first black man elected to the House of Representatives from this district just last summer. He is one of only a handful of black men to be in the House since reconstruction. Do you know what this will do to his career? They will make him resign if this comes out." Wanda tried to respond but she was cut off by more of her stepmother's self-centeredness.

"Things will be even worse when my friends find out. This can never get out." She said with an angry glare.

"You want me to get rid of it?" Wanda asked hesitantly not sure how she thought about ending the pregnancy. She didn't want to be pregnant but she didn't want to kill her child either.

"No. I could just imagine the scandal if that became public your father is pro life after all. Paris is lovely this time of year. I have been suggesting boarding school for years. However, your father hates the idea." She said but Wanda was confused.

"I seriously doubt he would go for it now that I'm carrying his first grandchild." Wanda replied snidely.

"He will never know. Not like he cares anyway, because he doesn't. He never wanted you. Your father cares more about his constituents than you and probably me. I could disappear and the Congressmen wouldn't notice until he needed me to stand by his side at some event. On second thought, there's always my family in Honduras. You and I are going to go visit my great grandmother for the next seven months before we come back with your little sister or brother. I hope it's a girl. I've always liked Renée for a girl's name but your father will probably want something hideous like Rhonda. She wanted to meet her new granddaughter 'Wilhelmina' anyway."

"Do I have any say in this?" Wanda asked her stepmother.

"No."

To be continued.


	21. Finally

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. This is the moment that most people have been waiting for the last 250,000 words and two stories.

Warning: B/D Sexual content (finally)

* * *

**Finally: Part One.**

Betty never understood the difference between sex and making love until that moment that he was inside of her. It seemed overly cliché but when Daniel was in her, she felt like the other part of her soul had come back to her. He was her home. He made her feel safe and secure no matter how crazy everything was. The physical joining of two bodies was just the final step of what they have been building for the last four years.

She thought what she was doing with Matt and Henry for that matter was lovemaking, but it wasn't. There was never this sense of completion in the act.

She never had the emotional intimacy with Matt and Henry that she had with Daniel. It wasn't that unusual for the two to finish each other's sentences. It would be logical to conclude that she could never have the same depth of physical intimacy with either man that she had with the person who was her friend, her partner, her lover, and her family.

Unlike everyone else before Daniel was allowed to see every part of her. He was the only one she would let in all the way to her heart and mind. He was the only one who knew all her fears. She was always holding back before but not with Daniel.

Daniel knew her. He would not have moved to another country if that hadn't been the case, no matter how many times Betty tries to convince herself that Daniel was only there to save Mode UK. He knew her childhood secrets, like why she hid underneath her New Kids T-shirt at pool parties or the real reason behind the scars on her right arm. Everyone else thought she fell down on the way home from school one day in the ninth grade. Daniel knew it was from being shoved in a locker by a certain blonde headed classmate and former colleague that looks like a Lindsay Lohan clone. (Maybe she should have told Daniel about this before that berry shoot incident.)

Daniel knew not to fill her old bedroom with candles for the sake of a romantic mood because it reminded her of what Renee did two years ago. After what happened today, Betty did not need the reminder. (Considering everything going on, she will forgive Amanda for not text messaging her about Renee being back in town.) She didn't need to say anything. He just knew.

At the same time, she knew the real Daniel Meade and not just the person he presented to the world. She knew he had a scar on his left wrist from falling off his bike when he was 9 because he took off his training wheels too early due to Alex's constant teasing. When Daniel believed that his brother was dead, he visited his grave every Sunday. She knew of the surgical scars on both his legs from the accident that put Alexis in a coma. She knows Daniel dreams about that accident from time to time. He cries at movies especially anything involving cancer or dead fathers.

She didn't know her previous lovers in this way. Matt never talked about his screwed up childhood or his parents' divorce. He didn't tell her about being a recovering sex addict or that he was one of those Hartleys until he had to. She didn't even know that he was bisexual until a few weeks ago. She was sure the same could be said for both Henry and Walter. In all of her relationships before Daniel, she only saw the person that they wanted her to see and in turn, she only let them see part of herself. When the mask came off, the relationships fell apart. That did not happen this time, because those masks were never in place to begin with.

Because of the emotional closeness, the physical experience was superior to everything that came before. Daniel knew where to touch to make her scream. It was more than just the physical sensations that garnered such reactions; the emotions he expressed in every caress were overwhelming. Betty knew every touch of Daniel's hands was an expression of his feelings. She could feel his joy, his happiness and his love for her. Every time his lips touched her overheated skin, it was as if he was saying 'I love you.'

She wasn't sure how long they were coupled together, it could've been hours or minutes. When the two were together, time lost its meaning. She lost count how many times he said 'I love you' as he thrust into her. She almost wished a certain boyfriend stealing neighbor of hers still lived next door so she would hear Daniel give her another earth shattering double orgasm. He knew exactly where to touch without her saying a word, eliciting a plethora of words including several expletives. He was too close to the edge to look smug at making her curse again. She was sure the neighbors would hear as she came so hard that she started crying (happy tears). It was as if her climax was building for the last four years and not the last 64 minutes.

Betty was very thankful that her father was working late at the restaurant and DJ was spending quality time with his little sister. This was a moment between her and Daniel. Really, nobody wanted a repeat of last night.

She wasn't sure if she said I love you at the moment of completion or if she just thought it. She doesn't remember the next few moments as Daniel discards the condom and comes back to bed. The next thing she remembers is being pulled against his chest as his body wraps around hers. It's possible that she blacked out momentarily from the sheer intensity of it. She heard that such a thing was possible but never experienced it before.

She knew she should get dressed again in case her father or DJ stopped by later but she didn't want to. She needed to feel Daniel skin against hers. She needed to feel his heart beat against her chest.

Usually after the first time with a boyfriend, she had this feeling of sadness that she could never explain. Maybe it was a sense of disappointment. Every time she came into the experience with expectations that could not be fulfilled. As with everything else in their four-year relationship, things with Daniel were different. She felt a sense of happiness that she never felt before. It was as if the rest of the world fell away at his touch. She knew that what she felt would not fade away after her orgasm. He was forever. This was forever. She didn't need the ring on her dresser to know that.

* * *

**25 Hours Earlier**

"Are you sure Mr. Suarez will be okay with me staying here?" DJ asked as he pulled his suitcase out of the cab. After more than four years, Betty has finally successfully convinced Daniel that it's not the best idea to drive a town car or limo for that matter into her old neighborhood.

"DJ, it's fine." Daniel said reassuring his nephew. She knew that Daniel was a little bit upset that they would be losing their carefree week but between her father and all her work commitments, she doubted they would get to do anything besides holding hands before returning to London. Even then, her father would probably give Daniel the evil eye like he did all her other boyfriends. Her father has never really liked any of her previous boyfriends, even if he tried to be civil. In the few conversations they've had since her father found out that she was living with Daniel, he seemed OK but there is a lot you can hide in a Skype conversation.

This morning on the way to Heathrow, she mentioned her fears to Daniel but he dismissed it stating that her father has always liked him and it would not change now. She then pointed out that all fathers hate the guy who is having sex with their daughter. Daniel responded with a cheeky, "Good thing we're not having sex yet," before kissing her in a way that made her almost go unconscious.

Unfortunately, Christina who was catching a plane out at the same time was sitting in the limo laughing during the entire scene. At least, by the end of their short visit Christina was in better spirits even if Betty still didn't know what was going on in her friend's life. They would definitely have to talk more when she comes back to visit later on. Some conversations cannot occur over the telephone.

Despite both Daniel and Christina's reassurances Betty was still scared about how her dad would take her bringing Daniel home. This morning on the plane, DJ mention he was uncomfortable staying with Mrs. Meade because he knew what was going to happen when Alexis admitted everything. Betty suggested that he come with her and Daniel to Queens. She doubted that her father would make a scene with DJ there. She needed a buffer and that buffer would be DJ.

"I would not have suggested it if I wasn't sure my dad would be okay with it. I even mentioned that it was a possibility yesterday." She lied. "We have the space. You can have Justin's old room. Helga said she left his old bed behind because she got him a bigger one for the new house." Betty said as she was walking up the stairs.

At that moment, Daniel just started laughing before mumbling, "At least someone will get to have fun. I always knew your sister was the cool mom." Daniel stopped laughing as soon as she gave him a dirty look.

"It may be best not to be anywhere near the island of Manhattan when your mother tells my mother about being sick. Then she is going to be mad at me for not telling her. Actually, maybe we should have just stayed in London." Daniel said as Betty grabbed her key.

"It will be fine. I doubt your mom will be that upset." She said quickly knowing better.

"We'll see. You still have your key?" Daniel asked in surprise.

"I kept it." She said nonchalantly not understanding what the big deal was.

"Shouldn't we knock anyway?" Daniel asked.

"If he was home, maybe, Papa is at work. It's only three days to the culinary event of the wedding season and only two days until the rehearsal lunch. Do you really think he would have let us take a taxi if he was available?" Betty said as she opened the door and walked inside.

"Not really." He responded as he followed her.

Betty has been gone for almost two months but things seem different in her childhood home. It was less cluttered for one thing. Maybe that was because Helga was gone along with her salon. With Daniel and Monique's connections, she was working as a private hair stylist to the wealthy and mostly made house calls. She has been doing so well over the last month her sister is not sure if she wants to even have an actual salon again.

The kitchen was different as well. Her father used a lot of the insurance money to give him the kitchen he always wanted complete with stainless steel refrigerator. Of course, one thing was still the same.

"Your father left snacks?" Daniel asked as he picked up the note on the table.

"Papa always says 'I love you' with food." Betty said as she went in to the refrigerator. It was filled with all her favorites including her father's signature malaise sauce. Betty already had one dish out of the fridge and into the microwave in seconds.

"You're going to eat now before we move the luggage upstairs?" Daniel asked as he closed the door.

"I miss my dad's cooking." Betty said going back to the refrigerator looking for the flan. She has not even found the store in their neighborhood in London where she can get the mix yet.

"Also, the food on the plane was horrible. I thought the food was supposed to be better in first class?" She said finally finding the thing she wanted. "DJ, come here? You have to try this." She said taking the dish out of the microwave and putting it on the table. She was personally more interested in desert.

"I've had your father's cooking before. I like the chicken dish with the chocolate sauce." DJ said as he grabbed a fork and took a little bite of the rice. Betty gave Daniel confused look but did not ask any questions and Daniel did not elaborate.

"Not all of us grow up with a world class chef at home. Fine, have your snack." He was laughing by that point. "I'll take everything upstairs and be back in a few minutes to join you. I need to make a few phone calls first. I have two 911 text messages from Candy and I want to call her before it becomes too late." Daniel said just before he kissed her. She was sure he could taste the custard dessert on her lips or actually, tongue for that matter. "Just promise me you will save me some of that." Daniel said as he grabbed her hand and proceeded to lick off a little bit of the dessert that fell on her finger. She shivered at the contact remembering what else that tongue has done recently. DJ was most likely mumbling the French equivalent of get a room during the display. Maybe, it would be best if they were supervised this weekend.

* * *

"So how come DJ is very familiar with my dad's cooking and the layout of the house? By the way, he is the reason why there wasn't any dessert left. He's worse than Amanda before the pregnancy." Betty said an hour and a half later after a quiet dinner downstairs and her getting DJ set up in his room. She wished papa was there but according to his message, he wouldn't be back until 9:00 PM or 10:00 PM at the earliest, unless he could get someone to switch shifts with him.

Betty was currently trying to find something to change into to sleep. The clock may say seven but her body thought it was well after midnight. Betty was shocked that she adjusted to the time difference so quickly. As much as she would prefer otherwise, she would see her father in the morning before leaving.

"For some reason I don't believe you. That is okay it taste better on your lips anyway. It was my fault for taking too long. I had a mini crisis to deal with involving my assistant and my ex-best friend. Actually, there was more than one crisis. I can't talk about it nor do I want to." His tone told her not to ask questions. "Also, apparently I'm now having lunch with Gio tomorrow." Daniel said kissing her quickly before going back to unpacking.

"More wedding stuff?" She asked.

"Something like that." Daniel said a little too quickly before changing the subject entirely. "To answer your question, when you were on your North American 'find yourself tour', your dad invited me to dinner a lot. DJ probably spent more time here than at my apartment. I think your dad was mostly worried about DJ starving to death or succumbing to food poisoning. You know my cooking skills prior to DJ coming into my life. There was a reason why I ate out most of the time other than I could afford it." He said with a nervous laugh.

"I didn't know it was possible to burn water until I met you." Betty said playfully. "You're much better now. The pasta last week was completely edible."

"That's because your father gave me cooking lessons in addition to lots of parenting tips. That stuff is coming in handy now." She was surprised to hear about this mostly because she had no idea. Then again, Daniel did know exactly how to make her favorite smiley face pancakes without her telling him how. Breakfast in bed was so much fun.

"My father taught you how to cook?" She asked with a mixture of laughter and amusement.

"Your father taught me how to do a lot of things. I think your father has been more of a father to me than my father ever was. When I had questions about what to do with DJ, he was always available. He was there for me when Molly died because he understood probably better than anyone else what it was like to lose someone like that. Your father knew I was staying in your bed during that time and didn't say a word." She understood what Daniel was saying even if it did bother her that he did not confide in her as much as she wished he would have during that time. Instead of voicing her concerns, she just squeezed his hand.

"So that's why you're not worried about me bringing you home. You're already part of the family." She said with a smile. He just laughed at that.

"Betty, honestly how much time have I spent at your old house over the last four years?" He asked her.

"You had your own chair at the table. Let's be honest, my other boyfriends were never invited to regular Sunday dinners." She said as she acknowledged what this really meant for the first time.

"Exactly," Daniel said smugly. "How many times have I spent the night with you sharing the same bed in this house?" She had to think about that because she and Daniel spent the night together a lot before they were officially dating, supposedly under the guise of movie nights and working late. Much more than two people who were supposedly just friends should have, that's for sure. God, Daniel actually had his own toothbrush and dresser drawer at her old apartment. She had the same setup at Daniel's apartment. Come to think of it, he actually had his own toothbrush when she was living in her father's house. How could she have not noticed this last year? They really have been dating for a while.

"Okay, you spent the night a lot. Do you know that you're the only boyfriend I ever had that has slept over in this house, in my bed and we were not even together at the time?" She said realizing that for the first time. Betty wouldn't dare bring her other boyfriends home but Daniel was always welcomed by the entire family. Actually, it was more like Daniel was family. She tried to tell herself that that was only because Daniel was just her boss/best friend but she knew better.

"Let me tell you it is impossible to sneak out of your house without someone in this family catching you. There's a reason why Justin had the best wardrobe to ever be seen at any high school in Queens. Everyone in your family knew what was going on between us before we did including Ignacio. He was okay with that otherwise he would have said something. You know your father never believed the excuse that I just showed up to pick you up for early morning meeting when I sat down for breakfast with the entire family." Daniel definitely had a point there. At least now, she understands all her sister's very inappropriate jokes and winks at breakfast when Daniel was there.

"So I am the first guy ever to see your little mermaid sheets? I'm flattered." Daniel joked as he pulled up the covers on her bed. To her absolute shock, Arial and company were on the bed. Daniel just started laughing as she looked for a T-shirt to put on. That was difficult because she broke down and let Daniel pack everything. He can get her to say yes to anything with his fingers and tongue. Fortunately, he did pack night things other than skimpy negligees that she may be willing to wear for him if he behaves. Unfortunately, there were no T-shirts, only tank tops that were a size too small and showed just a bit too much cleavage.

"You could have packed one T-shirt?" She said with mild irritation. "Stop laughing. I'm sure those are only on there because I took everything else with me. Yes, you are the only guy who has ever got to spend the night in this bed. You are probably right about my father knowing about it every time. There have been some very awkward conversations about how close we are and the need for me to use protection when we did hookup that I never want to discuss. Let's just say there was a reason why I started bringing condoms with me every time I spent the night at your apartment and leave it at that." Betty blushed as she admitted this.

"I wished I knew that at the time. You can't just leave it there. Maybe those conversations are why you're so afraid of me spending quality time with your father." Betty was really starting to hate how well Daniel could read her. She could usually get away with this stuff with her boyfriends.

"Fine. Do you remember the pregnancy scare last Christmas?" Daniel nodded his head quickly.

"After Matt went out, to get another pregnancy test, Papa pulled me aside and asked me if the baby could be yours." His mouth was open wide in shock at that.

"That explains why he went into such a panic when he saw me reading a pregnancy book in the hallway. I am okay with Arial." Daniel said moving to kiss her cheek.

"I am perfectly fine with your Disney fetish. Although, we really should not have saw _Up_ last year. I'm just glad Suzuki wasn't there to see that. Now that was embarrassing." Daniel said trying to make her feel better.

"From now on, I promise to read all reviews more thoroughly." Last summer she had the wonderful idea to take Daniel to see the latest Pixar film to cheer him up. That film happened to be essentially about a guy who just lost his wife. The experienced ended up with Daniel crying in the back of the theater as she let him eat all her popcorn and held his hand.

"I know you're worried about your dad, you shouldn't be. If he was not OK with us being together, we would both know by now." Daniel said seriously giving her another kiss, this time lightly on the lips. Thinking about it now her father was actually much more okay with the idea of Daniel getting her pregnant as opposed to Matt.

"I'm not worried." Betty said defensively as she started to go through her luggage again. He may have packed her a lot of nice things but she still can't find anything.

"You invited DJ to come with us just to play buffer. Not that I mind." Daniel said while laughing again.

"I did not." Betty said defensively just as Daniel gave her his newly acquired 'you know I'm right' look. She is sure that he got that from her.

"Okay, maybe I did volunteer that he stay here a little for that reason but he is our responsibility right now. I just want my dad to like you." She said as she gave up looking for a T-shirt and sat on the bed next to Daniel.

"I am not some stranger you met at school, work, or at some coffee bar. Your dad has known me for four years and despite being a witness to a certain indiscretion with a Department of State employee, your dad likes me." Daniel said with a reassuring smile as he pulled her to him on the bed.

"Daniel, you know what I mean. Sure, my dad has met Daniel my best friend or Daniel my boss. He has never met Daniel that guy sleeping with my daughter in another country. That video thing is probably coming into play now." She remarked darkly.

"Technically, we're not having sex. Although, if DJ wasn't downstairs finishing off the rest of your father's refrigerator we would be in the middle of christening your childhood bed right now despite the exhaustion. Ariel, deserve some action." Daniel gave her his trademark wicked glare before pulling her down on top of him and began to kiss her in a way that made her shiver.

"That is a technicality. I have already had more orgasms not having sex with you then with my first two boyfriends combined." Betty mumbled as she started to seriously wonder if the door was locked. Daniel's mouth started to move lower, she definitely did not want this moment interrupted.

"Besides, I don't think you care that DJ is here." Betty moaned as she said this.

"Not really." Daniel said continuing his action that made her breath hitch in her throat. "As long as DJ has food and some sort of electronic device to entertain himself, he will try his best to ignore you screaming at the top of your lungs. He is French and a Meade. This is kind of normal." That's when she felt Daniel start to pull her pants further down her body. "Now if your dad was here that would be different but he's not."

"Do not mention my father right now." Betty said just as she felt Daniel kiss her belly button. Actually, his mouth was doing more than kissing but she did not feel comfortable describing something that was almost obscene. Maybe if her navel wasn't one of those places were touched by Daniel's talented tongue her mind would completely shored out, she would have heard her father coming up the stairs. At the very least, Betty would have made sure the door was locked. Instead, the following awkward situation occurred.

"Mi hija, I'm so glad…" Her father started before he most likely saw what was happening. Betty quickly heard the door being slammed shut. She actually heard her father run down the stairs.

"Oh god. Why do we keep getting caught?" Betty said completely mortified as she quickly found her pants.

"You're the one who forgot to lock the door this time. Okay, now there's a reason for your dad to hate me." Daniel said as he graciously handed her one of his tee shirts. It was a little tight around the top area but it covered more than the tank top she was currently wearing.

* * *

15 minutes later, Betty found herself fully dressed walking into her father's kitchen. It took her that long to work up the courage to go downstairs. Daniel was still hiding in her bedroom waiting for Betty to give the all clear. DJ was sitting in the kitchen explaining why he was there as he kept yawning every few moments. It was obvious that he was worn out.

"Hey DJ, I think you better go upstairs. You look exhausted." She said as she gently pated his back.

"It's not even eight yet." He argued back. Betty has discovered that getting a 15 year old to go to sleep at a reasonable hour is quite difficult. This was a normal argument in the Suarez-Meade house.

"Yes, but it is almost 3 am in Paris. Go to bed. Your body will adjust later." She said grabbing him by the shoulder and gently pushing him to the stairwell just before he kissed her good night on the cheek.

"You're good with him." Her father said obviously not bringing up what happened earlier. Personally, she is shocked that there was not any screaming or yelling going on. She remembered the pregnancy test incident from last Christmas again. That was a big argument.

"I think it's easier with kids that are not mine. Do you need any help?" She asked quickly.

"I'm fine. I didn't know DJ was coming." Her father said as he went back to preparing his dinner. Betty was thankful that they were still ignoring the elephant in the room regarding what he saw upstairs. 10 minutes later and she probably would no longer be able to say that she and Daniel were technically not having sex.

"I didn't know until the flight when DJ expressed his desire not to stay with Mrs. Meade because…" Betty started but had no idea how to explain what was going on without giving away Meade family secrets. It was at that moment she realized she was now a member of another family.

"DJ explained everything. I'm sorry to hear that Alexis is sick. How is Daniel handling it?" Her father asked.

"Not well. I mean he is handling it better than he normally does. He has only come home drunk once and that was mostly because we got in a fight over the Amanda situation." Betty hoped her father did not ask too many questions about that because she did not feel like answering. He probably already knew anyway. Besides, she wanted her father to like Daniel.

"Betty, I already knew about. Amanda called Monday night."

"Okay." Betty said not knowing how to respond. It was a strange thing knowing that her friends were friends with her Dad.

"I knew about it before then months ago when we were staying at your apartment after I found Daniel reading a pregnancy book. I was just happy that it was not you." Now she knew what Daniel was talking about earlier. Betty was debating how to respond. "I can't believe my father saw what was going on between us before we did," was not appropriate. She decided on using humor to deflect from situation.

"That's not going to be a problem any time soon. Daniel and I were not even together back then. In addition, Daniel has agreed not to mention the B word for another year." Her father dropped the spoon he was using as she said the words.

"I didn't realize that things were that serious already." He said as he retrieved his spoon. Betty noticed the qualifier in that sentence, 'already'. Apparently, her father knew it would happen eventually just not yet.

"I know that you already know that Daniel and I are not just roommates." She stated quietly.

"Even if I was not aware, I would known from the scene I walked in on alone not to mention what has been on the TV recently." Betty couldn't help but blush at that. She was also desperately looking for something sweet to eat.

"I'm trying to repress that." Betty mumbled to herself before continuing. "Daniel and I have always had a unique relationship. I also know that I have to have him in my life in some capacity. I know you're probably thinking that we are rushing into things…" Betty was cut off at that moment.

"You two have known each other for four years, I don't consider that rushing. There was an entire conspiracy group trying to get you and Daniel together complete with e-mail mailing list."

"You've got to be kidding?" She heard about the conspiracy before but she had no idea her father was in on it.

"That's how I got the job for catering the Osbourn-Rossi wedding. You don't have to worry about me disapproving of your relationship with Daniel. I would not have helped get you two together if I didn't know that the man upstairs loves you with all his heart. He moved to another country for you. I was not even willing to move across this one for Alena." He said with deep regret.

"I doubt it would happen without the job offer." She said trying to make her father feel better. It didn't because they both knew better.

"I don't believe that. He went to London for you. Before he left, Daniel came over here to talk to me about his decision and to ask permission to move in with you."

"He asked first?" She was shocked. Matt didn't do that. Neither did Walter.

"He has always known how important family is to you. Daniel has been a part of this family for a while. Personally, I wish he would ask for my permission to marry you but no one's perfect." Her father said with a smile less menacing than when he was upset that Matt only asked her to live with him.

"He already asked." She really didn't mean to say that out loud. It really just slipped out. She knew by her father's wide eyed expression that he heard everything.

"You're engaged? Betty actually saw her father looking for the ring.

"No. It wasn't even a real proposal." She could see the disappointment instantly in her father's eyes and for some reason she felt disappointed too. "We were talking a few days ago about a lot of different things including why I am absolutely convinced I can either have my white picket fence dream or my magazine EIC dream but not both. I'm not even completely sure what we were talking about any more. At some point Daniel said that if he thought I would say yes we would head down to Tiffany's immediately." She explained fidgeting with her bare ring finger.

"He doesn't think you'll say yes?" Her father asked.

"Daniel knows I'm scared but he also knows I'm in this for the long haul. Sometimes I think about all the things mom didn't get to do because she was already married before she was even old enough to drink and I wonder if she regrets the life she had. Mom was brilliant but she spent her life doing other people's laundry and cleaning houses. I know she had dreams beyond that." Betty actually had one tear falling down her cheek as she said this.

"There were other reasons beyond being married and having two children that prevented her from achieving a lot of her dreams." Her father said most likely referring to the racism and gender discrimination of the period. "You have more opportunities than she ever did. However, she never regretted having you and your sister."

"I know the world is different now but I can't help but wonder how many things I will miss out on by settling down now." Betty said quietly.

"That goes both ways, Mi hija. I wouldn't trade your homemade father's day cards or the years I had with your mother to be head chef of the best restaurant in the world. Those moments mean more to me than anything else. Who says you can't have both, anyway?"

"You're right. If Daniel didn't come with me, I probably would have not lasted two weeks at Hub before I put in my notice. He understands me in a way no one else does. He supports me and listens to me rant about everything I hate. Nobody believes I can be the EIC of _London Hub_ more than Daniel. He let me go just so I could have a chance at my dream." Betty said smiling thinking about how much Daniel has really been there for her during this transition.

"There are many types of love in the world. Mature love is the type of love that grows with you. This person will encourage you to be more and follow your dreams. It is a love that changes as you change. This person will love you now as well as the person you will be 50 years from now. That type of love is more precious than everything else in the world. I think if you look at your heart, you will know that you already found that in Daniel." Her father said as he placed his finished dinner on the table. In her mind, she knew her father was right. Daniel was that love.

"Do you want some?" Her father asked before sitting down.

"That's okay, papá. I ate before you got here. You have to remind me to take some of the little boxes of flame with me. I can't find it yet. I'm exhausted anyway." Betty said getting up from the chair.

"We'll talk tomorrow over an early breakfast." Her father said quickly.

"Thanks, papá." Betty said kissing her father on the cheek before walking upstairs to the man she knew would always be there.

"Just make sure you lock the door, Mi hija."

**To be continued**


	22. Finally II

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Author's note: I did not go to the concert at Wolf Trap in 2010 as described in this chapter because I had to work. I did make it up this year by going to the NKOTBSB concert this past summer. I used my memories of that concert, press clippings, and some creative license for this insane account.

* * *

**Finally: Part II**

Daniel woke up the moment sunlight started to stream through the nearby window. His mind instantly goes back to the first time he woke up tangled up in her little mermaid sheets. He remembered feeling a mixture of confusion, sadness, and oddly enough disappointment when he realized that Betty slept on the couch after she rescued him from his own stupidity. He should have known even then that he wanted more than friendship and an excellent work relationship with her.

This time he felt satisfaction, happiness, and complete joy that the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with was lying in the bed next to him, body tangled with his. It was just a bonus that she was wearing nothing instead of fuzzy pajamas as her breast pressed into his chest. He was just as undressed with his boxers somewhere on the floor. He is not entirely sure where they were because after she took his ring he really couldn't wait another minute to be in her.

He should probably be content to just watch her sleep but he could not help but run one hand over the curve of her breasts. She moaned his name as he continued to caress her. Eventually he sees her beautiful brown eyes blinking open at him.

"What are you doing?" Betty asked him still half asleep.

"If you have no idea what I'm doing, we seriously have a lot of ground to cover." Daniel says kissing her shoulder blade.

"You do remember that my father is most likely in the room next door?" That phrase was like throwing a bucket of cold water on top of him and his favorite body part. That was actually what made him go flaccid despite the naked Betty in front of him.

"See this is why I wanted to stay in a hotel." Daniel said as he pulled away.

"I'm sure. Just remember that my father actually likes you and I want to keep it that way." She said smiling as she pulled the Disney sheet to her chest, trying to be modest. It was no use; every inch of flesh was forever burned in his mind.

"You're so lucky that you only have to deal with my mom. I'm only doing this because I see your father as a second dad." He said placing a tiny kiss on her forehead.

"Thank you." Betty smiled back.

"Your mom loves me, so that's not going to be a problem. I'm sure your dad wouldn't be happy, though." Betty said frowning as she put her glasses back on. As much as he wanted to stay in bed, they had to be in Manhattan in less than 2 hours. He had a brunch meeting with his mother and Monique to discuss the company. There was also a chance that Wilhelmina would be coming by to finalize the selling of her half of the company. At least that is what she told Betty yesterday afternoon during what his lover considered the most uncomfortable lunch of her entire career.

"Why do you say that? Daniel frowned momentarily. "You told me yourself, that when he died, he asked you to take care of me. I think you're doing a wonderful job of that." Daniel said smirking thinking about last night. He would love a repeat but Daniel instead got up to grab his robe from his bag so he could safely make it to the shower without his almost father in law eliminating the possibility of grandchildren.

"I don't think this is the type of 'taking care of' he had in mind. I normally don't listen to the Mode rumor mill but according to office gossip your father only hired me because you would never sleep with me." He wanted to chuckle at that. That was relatively mild to what the rumor mill usually said about him and Betty. Most of it involves doing inappropriate things in various bathrooms. He was half-tempted to suggest that she join him for his morning shower but he knew better. Daniel also wanted to make a joke about how everyone at Mode believed Bradford failed miserably at his goal even before his death but he was not sure Betty would get the joke.

"You have always been good with helping me prove my father wrong. He wasn't expecting me to fall in love with my assistant before I slept with her." He replied with a smirk as he found his toiletry bag.

"Technically, I was not your assistant by the time we actually fell in love with each other."

"I don't think sleep with is the term that they were using. What we did last night to not be considered fucking. First, because I love you. Second, I asked you to marry me before I actually slept with you. That shows growth on my part." He said smirking at her as he grabbed her vintage engagement ring from the night stand. The sunlight glittered off the stones.

"That was my second proposal. I'm personally surprised you actually said yes." She just smirked at him as he placed the engagement ring back on her finger.

* * *

22 Hours Earlier

Daniel Meade has never been afraid of anyone's father not even his own. Okay, that was a complete lie but he had no trouble whatsoever with the thought of Bradford walking in on him receiving 'dictation' from his blonde assistant (that four years later he cannot remember the name of). Mr. Suarez walks in on him kissing his daughter's belly button and he is hiding underneath little mermaid sheets hoping that Betty's father will leave before he needs to meet Gio at 11. He supposedly had a light day to day because his mother wanted to spend the day with Alex and DJ. Betty was busy with Lindsey. Monique would not be arriving from DC until early Friday morning due to more problems. Things were so bad that Megan and half the team were staying an extra two days. At least, that is what Monique said in an E-mail this morning when she arranged for a business brunch tomorrow before the rehearsal lunch. He just hoped that his colleague would not be freaking out by the time she arrived back in New York. Brunch will be a disaster.

Daniel really did not have a lot to do today after he handled a few conference calls from London other than have lunch with Gio. He wasn't looking forward to that even if he considered the deli owner an actual friend. Gio has definitely listened to a lot of Daniel's ranting over the last few months before moving to London, mostly when Daniel came in to pick up a pregnant lady special for Amanda. He already got the 'you better take care of Betty' speech more times than Daniel cares to remember from the man. They probably shouldn't be friends because Daniel knows somewhere deep that Gio knows that Betty turned down the wonderful all around Europe trip because of her feelings for him. Gio knew that Daniel was in love with Betty long before he did and vice versa. But the man wasn't bitter and Daniel was thankful for that. He didn't have that many real friends and he usually enjoyed spending time with those who liked him in spite of being Bradford's son.

What made Daniel dread today's meeting was the fact that he had to keep himself from telling Gio that he would be making his 15 year old sister pregnant lady specials for the next eight months. Daniel really wished Candy and Hilda never told him anything. Of course, there were a lot of things he wished Candy never told him. He should have just followed the first rule of vacation and not return phone calls to the office. Unfortunately, Betty made him too responsible to forget about his responsibilities for long periods of time.

The moment Daniel got off the plane he had 18 urgent messages to listen through. By the time he was in Betty's old bedroom, he had a grand total of 27 messages. Daniel knew he couldn't put off calling Candy any longer. She never provided any specifics but Daniel knew with that many messages something had to be wrong.

"Do you have any idea what time it is on this side of the planet?" Candy spat out slightly slurred.

"It can't be that late if you're answering the phone. I used to call Betty at 3:00 AM all the time and she never complained." Daniel shot back. Candy laughed.

"That's because Betty loves you and is far more tolerant than I am. I only picked up the phone because I'm still conscious and we need to talk. I'm only still up because I am trying to sneak successfully out of the hotel room of a very ill advised one night stand. I am so taking the morning after pill too just in case." Candy mumbled.

"How ill advised?" He asked curiously. He never exactly had the normal boss/assistant relationship with anybody who has been his assistant. Then again, other than Marc, Candy, Natalie, and that tall blonde girl from last year (that he can't remember the name of) Daniel has had some sort of sexual relationship with every assistant that he has had.

"I'm only telling you about it because I'm still slightly drunk and my judgment is highly impaired. That's why I got in this situation in the first place. I only get completely wasted when I get bad news of a personal nature." She said cryptically.

"What happen?" Daniel asked with concern.

"I can't talk about it but you might just want to start loading your nephew's dresser drawer with condoms. Actually, I suggest doing that with both nephews." There was only one possible cause for such a comment.

"You're not pregnant?" He asked a little scared. Amanda said something like that the last time he had to hold her hair back as she threw up. He could not deal with another pregnant assistant.

"Considering this is the first time I have had sex since before February fashion week, no." She blurted out in irritation. "When I'm more sober we are going to talk about boundaries."

"I haven't done anything since December, so you are ahead of me." That was technically true.

"For some reason I don't believe you. Let's get to the matter at hand. Do you want the personal related bad news or the magazine related bad news?"

"Magazine related." Daniel said with a sigh.

"First about 20 minutes after your plane took off for New York, we were hit with a wrongful termination suit by Mr. Pratt. His solicitor is an absolute bitch." Daniel wasn't surprised considering that the man had to be escorted out by security. "Our barrister, or solicitor, or whatever they call lawyers who deal with disgruntled spoiled brats in this country, are dealing with it. He has also been hired by one of our rivals, although, I am not sure which one. Fashion TV UK is a bit more cryptic than its American counterpart." There goes any free time he thought he would have. He almost wished he still had Wilhelmina to deal with this sort of stuff. The only good news is the lawyers or whatever do not think that Mr. Pratt had a case considering his poor work ethic and the fact that he has probably received more B J's in his office by various employees than Daniel ever did before he got serious.

He also listened to Candy tell about the fight that broke out between his two managing editors this morning as quietly as possible as she tried to find her clothing in the other room without waking up her bed partner. Things were not going well in London. He thought about asking Candy to stay behind but Daniel doubted things will fall apart that badly in two days. Also, he would never hear the end of it if Monique lost another bridesmaid.

"What about the personal crisis?" Daniel asked already feeling a headache coming on.

"Gio wants to have lunch with you tomorrow." She said quickly as he heard her fall into something. This was followed by cursing.

"Why is this a personal crisis?" Daniel asked but Candy ignored his question.

"That hurt." She mumbled to herself. "My theory is he's going to ask you to fill in as best man."

"Why?" Daniel asked having a feeling that in Candy's mind, that did constitute a crisis.

"I can't tell you. Should a hangover start this soon? I wonder if the guy has any Tylenol?" Again, Candy was mumbling incoherently.

"Candy!" He practically yelled.

"Fine, but you can't tell Mo, she's already on edge about the wedding. She's under a lot of pressure for this to be the social event of the summer season before TV fashion started stocking her again. Mode needs all the good publicity it can get. This wording, sorry, wedding is very important to the magazine and Mo. You know about how most of the other bridesmaids have pulled out of the wedding and certain things keep going wrong?" Candy asked.

"Amanda told me." He answered quickly remembering multiple text messages and e-mails on the subject at strange hours of the day.

"It turns out that Gio's ex girlfriend/business partner is completely insane and sabotaging the wedding." Candy spat out with anger. "Mo should have bought out the bitch early on."

"What?" Daniel asked with confusion.

"Ask Monique about how she ended up with Gio. I'm too sloshed to tell you that story now. Gio almost married someone else but it fell apart after he met Mo and sourdough girl was not happy. Her mission is to make the wedding not happen. Too bad for her, one of Mo's so-called friends called me with the sole purpose of getting me to not be part of the wedding. That's when the drinking began this morning after I warned Gio." This was not good. How can someone be that upset about a breakup? Considering he had a girlfriend who tried to barbecue Betty, he shouldn't be that surprised. He really hoped he would never see that woman again.

"How is she trying to stop the wedding?" Daniel was curious about this.

"By spreading vicious rumors and lies, you know the usual. She is like the Wilhelmina of the baking world but more insane and less skilled. To get rid of the bridal party, she spread vicious lies about you and Betty being in a relationship before Molly died with the hope of causing a rift between all the friends. It worked because Monique refuses to back down about you being in the wedding at her friends' insistence. The rumor of choice to fool Gio's Cousins was to say that they were still involved and she was pregnant with his child." Daniel wanted to laugh. He was sure that Candy was rolling her eyes as she spoke despite being drunk.

"That's no worse than what I've heard from the Mode rumor mill. If they believe whatever she told them, then they are not really Monique's friends to begin with. Although, I think Gio needs to get a restraining order against this girl." This girl makes Wilhelmina's sister look sane Daniel thought to himself.

"I will talk to Mo's personal lawyers before I leave for Heathrow in the morning." She said with pure annoyance. Actually, I had better do it tonight because that girl is more dangerous than the rumor mill ever could be. Megan and company never tried to sell doctored photographs to Suzuki and a story about how Molly caught you and Betty having sex in the storage closet at your wedding to her. Sourdough girl even went so far as to claim that was the real reason why your marriage to Molly was never registered." Candy was angry enough that she sounded almost completely sober even if some words were still slurred.

"Why is he not publishing this story?" Daniel asked surprised. Suzuki does not back down. This would be this story of the year even if it were not true.

"Because even Suzuki knows better than to publish a story that is based on obvious lies and he doesn't want to piss off his wife by going after one of her friends. The only part of her story that was true was that the marriage was never registered." Daniel is sure that Candy only told him that because she is still intoxicated.

"What?" Daniel said blinking back shock. He knew that because of Molly's weakening health, they never did have sex after the wedding and therefore their marriage was slightly less than legal. However, he didn't know about the other part. To know that it was not real was just too much.

"I assume that is yes to doing lunch. It has to be an early lunch because Gio needs to go to the jewelers to pick up the wedding rings." Candy said completely changing the subject.

"Fine, I will go to lunch with Gio. Can we go back to what you said before? What do you mean my marriage to Molly was never registered?" Daniel said on the verge of screaming or possibly crying. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Candy was saved from his anger by her one night stand.

"Running away so soon, I thought we could have another round." Daniel dropped his phone when he realized who that voice belonged to. By the time he found it again, Candy had hung up. Eventually he realized she was no longer taking his phone calls after 10 failed attempts. This is probably why he left a voicemail on her phone that resulted in him getting yelled at the next morning and promptly told off by his new assistant. According to Candy, because she is not Betty, he has no right whatsoever to tell her how to live her life even though she did foolishly sleep with one of his friends. She also mentioned that she could acknowledge that she made a mistake without him pointing that out. Good thing she did not hear the message he left Becks.

It was when he was hiding away from Betty's father after he walked in on him about 30 seconds before he actually went down on Betty that he finally talked to Hilda. She also left several crazy messages on his cell throughout the day. She was impatiently waiting in the concession stand at a concert venue somewhere in the greater DC area buying great quantities of alcohol for the great Monique Osborn bachelorette party. She laughed hysterically for a good 5 minutes after he told her what happened. She quickly reassured Daniel that their father probably would not kill him for defiling his little girl.

"Daniel, it will be okay. If he did not kill Bobby for getting me pregnant, he will not do anything to you. Although, it would probably help if you put a ring on it." He knew Hilda was only half joking.

"I would if your sister would let me." Daniel replied without thinking. Luckily, she was too busy being annoyed by an extremely long line.

"Really how long does it take to get to get a few beers and a couple of overpriced pink drinks with the cherries? This is Kama forcing dad to go to New Kids concerts as my chaperone when I was growing up. Now it is my turn to be the responsible adult. The concert hasn't even started yet and I'm pretty sure Tina from features is already smashed." Hilda snickered.

"Probably, there is usually a bet to see who would pass out first at parties, her or Amanda, you know before the pregnancy." He laughed nervously. "I thought Monique nixed the Backstreet Boys concert bachelorette party?" Daniel said not explaining the real reason why Monique backed out of going to a concert that she really wanted to go to. He still doesn't know what member she slept with but honestly he really doesn't want to. He has more important things to worry about, like figuring out why his marriage to Molly was never registered and keeping Mr. Suarez from killing him.

"Do you have any idea how many rabid but closeted fan girls and boys you have on your staff? Several were pissed that having to give up their tickets for the show at the Hammerstein ballroom Thursday for the DC spectacular until Amanda sent out invitations with seats that were practically on stage. Apparently, the tickets were a wedding present from someone that Amanda refuses to give the name of. If Monique canceled this party she would have had a mutiny on her hands." Daniel really wasn't that surprised by Monique's rationalization, he just laughed instead.

"She gave in when she realizes that, one, there was not a single club within The Beltway that would let Amanda come inside looking almost eight months pregnant. Finally, Gio gave her his blessing after Amanda explained everything. I think it was the pregnancy hormones that did him in. They can manipulate anyone." Hilda laughed.

"Probably," Daniel said to himself, remembering how persuasive a crying Amanda could be. He is just glad she never used that technique when they were actually dating.

"I think doing something not work related is probably good for everyone. Things at the State Department were insane and we have to go back early tomorrow to pick up some shots because Marc's boyfriend 'accidentally' misplaced Cliff's memory card before he did whatever he needed to do to it. I could not go to the bathroom there without somebody following me. At least Amanda is not crying right now." Hilda said with a sigh before yelling at some woman who tried to cut in front of her in the alcohol line.

"How is Amanda doing?" Daniel asked concerned. Recently, all of his conversations with Amanda have focused on why his ex girlfriend was back in town.

"She is doing better than I did after Justin's father stopped returning my phone calls and started hanging out with the tramp next door. She is worried about Matt fainting but she is also still mad at him for not being there for her. She is almost acting like my sister." Daniel agreed with that.

"Everybody is being really nice to Amanda right now to avoid extreme crying. That is another reason why Monique just went with this instead of asking Amanda to find something else. Monique actually gave Megan VIP passes for not being a bitch to Amanda and to make up for her having to cover for a sick Matt. She probably gave passes to Troy for less pleasant reasons." She said with a snicker.

"Do I want to know?" Daniel asked sure that it probably had something to do with her latest matchmaking scheme.

"Not really." Hilda sighed again before exchanging a few words with the concession worker.

"Quick question, Daniel, how much alcohol do I need to give your friend to tell her extremely bad news?" He was not expecting that question but he was sure it had something to do with the wedding sabotage. This is why he needs more guy friends.

"If it is the fact that Gio's ex girlfriend is trying to ruin her wedding, I would go with three of those things with the cherry and some candy with good chocolate." He said seriously. "Throw in some real French Fries too; you're going to need it." He added as an afterthought.

"What?" Hilda asked almost shock, most likely downing one of those drinks with the cherry. Daniel quickly explained everything Candy told him earlier.

"That explains why Monique just asked me to be the hair stylist at the wedding of the decade. Actually, that may even be why I am here in DC this week. Their original stylist was also going to work on the wedding but he suddenly came down with the 'flu'."

"I assume that's not the bad news you need to tell her." Daniel interrupted it mid tirade.

"No." She said without going further.

"You need to tell me what is going on before I can help you." He said quickly adopting Betty's favorite technique.

"Fine." Hilda only got as far as telling him that Monique's future sister in law was pregnant before having to end the call because Betty came back upstairs. He was already mentally wondering if Marc could handle the magazine temporarily after Monique is brought up on charges for murdering Antonella's former boyfriend. Then again it will probably be Gio who will do something worth being arrested for.

Betty just assumed he was uncomfortable because he was still uneasy after Mr. Suarez walked in on them doing very inappropriate things, not worried about his co owner going off the deep end, along with his friend. Okay maybe he was really upset that another person was bringing a child into the world accidentally when he wanted to be a father more than anything else.

Betty assures him that her father was fine with their relationship in between light kisses, not that he completely believed her. After everything that happened, Daniel did not feel like going farther. Even as an adult, teen pregnancy was the ultimate mood killer.

Betty woke up early this morning, her body already used to London time, more than Daniel anyway. She also had an early breakfast meeting with Lindsey before attending to various work related things. He woke up an hour later to a very angry phone call from his assistant. Much to Daniel's displeasure, that would not be the most unpleasant phone call that morning. Daniel also had a conference call to deal with the legal implications of "Pratt being a Pratt," as Sumreen so eloquently put it. So maybe he was happy for the phone call with the lawyers just so Daniel could avoid Betty's father until he left for work, not that it actually worked. He knew Mr. Suarez was still downstairs. Currently he was stalling with another phone call to Hilda.

"Your ring tone is too loud." She said in a tone that instantly said hung over. "I got to remember not to drink like I am 20 when I have to get up at 6:00 AM to make overly cheery skinny girls look pretty. Last night was a disaster beyond me, only getting 3 hours asleep."

"Good morning to you." Daniel said sarcastically. "I assume you broke the bad news to Mo."

"No, I didn't get a chance. Things went bad as soon as I arrived back with the alcohol and the orange juice for the mommies to be. Your friend Monique, called in a favor from an 'old friend' to get Amanda dragged on stage during the mandatory 'sing a love song to a girl from the crowd' number. There is probably a video on YouTube of Amanda blowing her nose on Brian Littrell's shirt as she burst into sobs during 'As Long As You Love Me'. It just went downhill from there. I figured it would be best to wait until after the wedding as long as Antonella doesn't throw up on anyone shoes. Poor Amanda." Daniel didn't get to hear what that was about because it sounded like a fight broke out in the background and Hilda left to break up whatever was happening. Daniel was sure he would find out during brunch on Friday.

Spending quality time with Mr. Suarez started to seem less daunting than the prospect of lunch with Gio currently. There was no way he was going to tell the man about his sister being knocked up. He knew better. Finally, Daniel headed downstairs knowing that he had to see the man eventually.

"I was wondering when you were going to come downstairs." He said looking up from his morning paper. "Betty and DJ already left at least an hour ago. Your mother sent a town car for him." Daniel wasn't surprised about that. His mother loved her grand baby.

"She doesn't get to see DJ a lot because of the custody issues. He is her only grandchild, so far." As he mumbled that last part to what he thought was only himself, a dark look came across Mr. Suarez's face. "Betty is not pregnant." Daniel added hastily as he sat down at the table tentatively. Maybe it was a good thing he was having lunch in less than an hour. Daniel was worried that Betty's father would add something that Daniel was allergic to in the breakfast.

"I know about the Amanda situation. She visits a lot. My cooking is the only thing that she can keep down sometimes. Do you want something to eat?" He asked getting up from the table to refill his own coffee.

"Maybe something light, I have a lunch meeting." Daniel said giving in. Mr. Suarez's food was worth hospitalization. "Mom is claiming the baby regardless. Something about if Faye stole her husband she gets to take her grandchild. Although, I guess its grandchildren now." Daniel wondered aloud remembering what Amanda told him earlier

"Twins?" He asked as he placed two slices of most likely homemade whole wheat bread in the toaster

"Yes. They found that out after Matt's freak out Monday." Daniel said angrily as he accepted the cup of coffee placed in his hands.

"You are not happy about that?" Mr. Suarez asked as he walked back to the refrigerator

"Amanda is my best friend not counting Betty and I'm happy for her. I have also accepted that I will only be Uncle Daniel. I'm just…" Daniel stopped mid-sentence not knowing how to expresses frustration.

"You're angry that she has to go through this alone?" He said grabbing what appeared to be fresh fruit out of the fridge.

"Maybe, though she's really not alone. Like I said, my mother has decided that this baby will be her grandchild no matter what." He said with a half smile. Even if Amanda was the one who essentially pushed him to go to London, he was still a little upset that he backed out on his original promise to be there for every appointment until the delivery room.

"Maybe part of you is upset this baby will most likely not be yours?" Daniel almost dropped his coffee when Mr. Suarez asked that. Choking on hot liquid is not good.

"No. I'm in London now with Betty and I'm not sure if Amanda wants to leave New York. She's the one who pushed me to go to London. It would be messy and nobody wants a repeat of Tucson." He was rambling by that point.

"It's hard for me to believe that considering this is coming from somebody who sat in the hallway reading _Oh Fuck, I Got Someone Pregnant."_ He said with glee.

"I knew I should get the digital version." Daniel muttered under his breath.

"I do want to have children someday, with Betty." Daniel specifically stressed the last part. He looked up from his coffee to see Mr. Suarez smiling. "But now's not the right time, we have DJ who needs our attention right now with everything going on with Alexis." Daniel said taking a deep breath before continuing.

"Then Betty is trying to start a brand new magazine as I try to save another one from the brink of failure. This is not a good time." He said honestly as he saw the scrambled eggs stuffed with cheese and vegetables placed in the microwave for reheating.

"Do you want orange juice or mango juice?" That question was an obvious attempt to move on to something more diplomatic.

"Both mixed together." He responded.

"How is work?" Mr. Suarez asked minutes later as he placed the fruit salad, eggs, toast, and two slices of bacon in front of Daniel, so much for something light.

"Did you hear what I said about saving a magazine from failure?" Daniel asked taking the first bite.

"It can't be that bad. I know you know what you are doing." He said sitting back down.

"Sometimes I wonder." Daniel said as he started to tell the man about everything going wrong at Mode UK. What they didn't talk about was what Mr. Suarez saw the night before. There was also nothing along the lines of 'when the hell are you going to marry my daughter?' The majority of the discussion revolved around assuring Daniel that he could keep Mode UK from going under. That is what Daniel really needed to hear from a person he almost considered to be his other father.

* * *

90 minutes later he found himself at a bakery in Queens drinking real espresso as he listened as Gio got in a fight about the cake.

"I don't care what the fuck that woman told you, the wedding is not canceled. My fiancé ordered the raspberry Cream cake with the chocolate raspberry mousse filling and that is what we are going to have Saturday." Gio screamed at the older lady that was yelling off at him moments earlier in rapid Italian. Daniel doesn't remember that much from the three months he spent in Florence during high school but he is almost positive the woman said something about castrating Gio and feeding him to her pig. There also may have been several other curses in there and a promise never to serve such a bastard again.

"I'm sorry Mr. Ross but we simply do not have time to fill the order even If what you said is true." The older woman's granddaughter said diplomatically even if she got his name wrong. "Your fiancé sounded very convincing when she called us crying after she allegedly caught you in bed with her assistant."

Daniel started laughing at that point resulting in both women looking at him angrily. 'The evil bitch strikes again,' Daniel thought to himself as he looked on at the scene. Apparently, she has been telling that sob story to every vendor involved with the wedding. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of calling Mr. Suarez directly. Now they were currently trying to undo the damage. The second stop was the bakery after barely managing to convince the florist that the wedding wasn't canceled. Considering the amount of women that he has screwed over the years (figuratively and literally), he should probably married Betty in secret. It worked so well the first time (if he can even still call that a marriage.) He was sure something like this would happen to him otherwise.

"The name is Rossi. That was not my fiancée that called. That was my ex girlfriend who is not very happy that I'm marrying someone else. Monique, my actual fiancé, but is not that crazy." Daniel didn't need his very basic grasp of Italian to know that neither woman believed Gio with the dangerous glares that they were giving the man. It was time for him to intervene if he doesn't want news of this disaster on fashion TV.

"I know you don't believe Gio but he's telling the truth. Monique's assistant is not only her best friend but also five months pregnant and completely in love with someone else." Daniel said in Gio's defense.

"It's just too late to put the cake together." Daniel has been forced to do enough wedding issues to know that is a complete lie. If there's enough motivation, anything's possible.

"Do you have any idea who his fiancée is?" Daniel asked wondering if they knew that not doing the cake for the wedding of the year was career suicide? Gio maybe was too nice to play dirty but Daniel was not.

"She works for that men's magazine my husband keeps in the bathroom." The granddaughter said. Daniel almost cursed. Wilhelmina was the one who suggested that they keep the fact the EIC of _Player _was female a secret. They were completely screwed over because of that decision and the fact that Monique was so humble. Fuck!

"She received a promotion. She is now the EIC of Mode magazine, also, known as the one fashion magazine that sets all wedding trends." Daniel instantly saw recognition in their eyes as soon as he said Mode. "She obviously chose your establishment for a reason instead of choosing one of the more trendy bakeries in Manhattan for a wedding that will be covered by every media outlet in the country." Daniel said with a smirk that he got from Wilhelmina before the botox paralyzed her face.

"She likes their raspberry truffle cupcakes. She ordered 40 dozen for the reception along with a few of her other favorites. She was also planning to give out boxes as her end of the year thank you present to everyone at Meade Publishing this year. She sent two dozen boxes to Oprah last winter and her 'friend' Alex and his group earlier this month." Daniel wondered if that was true but it probably was. He also wondered whom Alex was but decided not to ask questions.

"I thought she mentioned something about doing a feature spread about her favorite bakery." Gio said causing the angry glare to disappear from the faces of the two women.

"That's not going to happen now after this disaster." Daniel mumbled just loud enough for both to hear.

"You know it was a simple misunderstanding and your fiancé did request one of our simpler recipes. I'm sure we can work something out." The grandmother said smiling.

* * *

An hour later, they were at the pizza place next to the jeweler that was currently finishing the engraving on the rings after the evil ex girlfriend sabotaged that. For the last hour, Daniel has been using his and Monique's connections to save this wedding. If he could only use these skills when it came to Mode UK everything would be great.

"I did promise lunch." Gio said as he took a drink of his beer. It was barely 1:00 PM but if anybody deserved alcohol right now it was Gio.

"I like pizza. It's just not the same in London. Don't get me wrong there's lots of great restaurants but the pizzas just not the same." He said smiling.

"It's the least I can do for you saving the wedding." Gio said honestly.

"Consider it payback for helping me with the Betty thing. Besides that is what the best man does." Daniel said taking a drink of his water.

"So you're taking the best man position?" Gio asked.

"Yes. I assume that is what you asked me here for." He said just before taking another bite.

"Actually, no." Gio said taking a DVD out of the bag he was carrying with him.

"What's this?" Daniel asked grabbing the plainly marked jewel case.

"Honestly, I don't know. Molly gave it to me the last time I delivered food to the apartment before ..." He trailed off but Daniel knew what he was talking about. "She made me promise to give it to you one year later. That is today. She gave me another package for Monique." Daniel stared at the DVD not knowing what to think. He tried not to think about the fact that in two days it will be exactly a year since his 'wife' died. Actually, he didn't want to think about that. He just wanted to concentrate on making Monique's wedding and surviving quality time with Mr. Suarez.

Of course, he could not stop thinking about the DVD as the two walked back to the jewelry store. What was on the DVD? Even though Monique showed him the letter that Molly wrote her asking her to play matchmaker, he still wondered if she would be okay with him being with Betty so soon.

By that point Daniel decided to distract himself by looking at all the vintage jewelry. Okay, he mostly looked at the engagement rings. There was one in the middle of the case that stood out from the more traditional rings. It was a beautiful diamond ring that had some sort of carving and jewels on the side.

"Are those butterflies?" He mumbled out loud.

"Yes. According to the woman who sold it to me her great grandmother loved butterflies or I guess step grandmother would be more appropriate. She was his second wife after the first one died during childbirth. According to the granddaughter, she was his best friend and helped him survive his first wife's death, as well as, helped him take care of his newborn daughter. Her husband had the rings specially made for her. They were married for 52 years. Supposedly, they died within hours of each other holding hands. Would you like to see the rings sir?" The salesperson asked.

He should say no but he couldn't. Maybe it was because that story reminded him of his relationship with Betty even if some things were different. Once Daniel held the ring in his hand, he knew this was Betty's ring. It was even her size. Although what made his decision to get the ring was the inscription, 'Yours Forever, Daniel' already inside. He was going to ask her eventually, might as well have the ring. Daniel knew he would never find something this perfect again.

"I'll take it."

**To Be Continued**


	23. I Feel Bad for You Marc

I realize that this chapter took forever, the joys of writer's depression. I tried writing another Ugly Betty story and it worked perfectly to get me out of my depression. It is called _Happy New Year_ if anyone is interested.

Bonus question: I purposely recreated a scene from a season one episode of Ugly Betty. Bonus points to whoever recognizes the scene or recognizes the episode that it was from.

Disclaimer: Except for Secretary Clinton, all State Department officials or employees are fictionalized characters. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. Also, remember this story takes place in 2010.

The chapter title is a parody of the lyrics of the Jay-Z song 99 problems

* * *

Chapter 21: If You're Having boy Problems, I Feel Bad for You Marc.

30 hours until she became Mrs. Gio Rossi and the world around her was slowly coming undone. She really does not know where to start. The DJ canceled because he was 'supposedly' overbooked and apparently, a certain superstar performer suddenly has laryngitis and can't perform. They didn't even have the balls to call her, instead there people send her people a text message. Considering she saw said pop star partying with various underage pop tarts on page six this morning she doesn't believe his excuse for canceling. Rehab would have been more believable.

This morning as they were getting off the train she overheard Amanda getting in a vicious fight with the judge who was supposed to do the wedding. (Monique really does not want to think about why they were getting off the train from DC at 6:24 AM) Supposedly, he has the flu. Amanda referred to it as the most likely taking the day off to get laid flu. Monique thinks all the cancellations is the universe's way of making her as miserable as possible.

The most upsetting of all was that her father was still coming to the festivities with his now wife number six who is probably more pregnant then Amanda at this point. So it pisses her off a little bit that her father who never gave a fuck about any of his children keeps popping out babies in his mid seventies and she can't have children. No, she is not jealous at all. Chances are her father will die of a heart attack before said half sibling is five years old and the gold digger will be happy to let someone else take care of her child as long as she still gets child support payments.

Because her sister despises their father even more than her she definitely will not be coming to the wedding now which hurt Monique. Her sister defied their mother to accompany Monique to Atlantic City the first time, yet she couldn't deal with their father for the length of the ceremony. Monique would rather have her sister there again than her absentee father. However, her mother, even though she absolutely hated her former husband, would not allow Monique not to invite her sperm donor to the wedding. In exchange for the money to buy Wilhelmina's shares of Meade publishing, this wedding would have to go by the Viviane Windom-West rules.

It wasn't until an hour ago when she received a phone call from Mr. Suarez to make sure that the rehearsal lunch was still on for 2:00 that Monique realized the chaos, at least the part that was only related to the wedding, was not just the universe screwing her over.

Sourdough girl was truly fucking with her life just because in her mind Monique stole her boyfriend. It was as if she saw Gio as a possession not a person. Supposedly, the girl has been using every scheme imaginable to screw up her wedding from telling sob stories to the caterers to turning Monique's so-called friends against her. The fact that she had real friends who were willing to use their connections to keep her wedding from going completely to hell made her feel better. She didn't need the others.

She was a little angry that if it wasn't for Mr. Suarez telling her the truth she would have no idea what was going on. Apparently, Gio, Amanda, Candy, and Daniel thought it would be best to just keep her ignorant of what was going on. She is not that type of person. She needs to deal with a crisis head on, and not have people hide the dirty truth from her. That just makes it worse in the end.

The fact that she had real friends that would do anything for her including fixing the wedding from hell helped her get through the world's worst HR meeting. She thought she would be happy when she got a chance to dismiss Troy but she was not, mostly because it was a giant mess. Troy 'accidentally' losing Cliff's shots from Tuesday was grounds enough to fire him but Marc argued to give him another chance because he is that good of a person. (Most likely, it is because Troy's tongue is that good. That is probably the only reason why they were ever together in the first place.) However, what happen yesterday was unforgivable. She does not tolerate domestic violence and will not employ anybody who did what Troy did to his boyfriend yesterday on the job.

The problem is that because this unfortunate situation involves her Junior Creative Director and a subordinate it could become ugly, and by ugly she means wrongful termination lawsuit. The lawyers pretty much told her that a lawsuit was going to be inevitable but the fact that Troy not only left his boyfriend black and blue, he was also single-handedly responsible for _Mode_ getting kicked out of the Department of State and getting Monique's interview was Secretary Clinton re canceled after she spent days trying to get it back on the woman schedule. These actions cost the magazine a lot of money and therefore would be sufficient grounds for his dismissal.

The only good thing to come out of the fiasco referred to as the DOS incident is her cousin decided to resign and will become Marc's assistant. Sneaky little bastard managed to beat her to the job offer. This means that she is stuck with Lamanda from the temp agency who is not in front of Monique's Office. Considering that the blinds were shut she would not be surprised to find a sleeping assistant inside. Unfortunately, what Monique found in her office was much worse and disturbing.

She already had a massive headache that was either triggered by sleep deprivation or spending too much quality time with the lawyers or most likely a combination of the two. She sees a very happy Betty Suarez sitting at her desk. When Monique says happy, she means 20 seconds from getting an orgasm. When she notices the little bit of red sole shoe underneath her desk she knows that the orgasm is not hypothetical. (She refuses to confess how she now knows that a person can fit under her new desk or how easy it is to partake in that activity in that particular chair. Let us just say there is a reason why she went with a more traditional style desk that was completely covered in front.)

"I'm going to go to Marc's office and find something alcoholic." Monique said in a daze. She knew even though it was barely 10:00 AM that Marc would have something considering what happened yesterday. "Better yet, I probably should find some chocolate. Things are too screwed up right now for me to be completely sloshed. Come get me when you are done. Also, there are Clorox wipes in my desk. If you could wipe down my chair, that would be lovely." Monique said just before slamming the door behind her. The universe really hated her.

* * *

**23 hours earlier office of Assistant Secretary Claudia Smith, U.S. Department of State**

Monique sat in an extremely uncomfortable chair asking carefully cleared questions related to Illegal wildlife trafficking and the illicit goods trade. The only reason why they got permission to shoot at the Department of State was if they would agree to put this article and a special editorial on Illegal Wildlife Trafficking in several of Mode's sister publications overseas. It was a small price to pay for the spectacular shots from the first day (Half of which were lost by Marc's boy toy Troy.)

They were in the middle of discussing how important it was for consumers to be aware of where their goods come from and to not buy products obtained by unethical means when Monique heard muffled screaming. This was quite a feat because the historically restored office in the old war building was most likely soundproof. This seemed likely because she hasn't heard the flicker of cameras and chatter of Models yet from the shoot happening less than 50 feet away.

The interview continued for a few more minutes until she heard a body being slammed into the wooden door to the office. By that point, the Assistant Secretary's assistant was leading her into another room. Monique, being the type of person she was, decided to see what was happening. She opened the door only to see her favorite photographer helping a bruised and bloodied Marc up as two male models held back Troy. She didn't have time to ask questions because in seconds they were surrounded by heavily armed security guards and the Marines. She doesn't know how it happened but she knows this is 10 times worse than the United Nations fiasco. When she spends her afternoon talking to lawyers, doctors, and, police officers she realizes her assumption was true.

* * *

In Marc's personal opinion the only good thing about the last 72 hours was falling asleep on Cliff's shoulders this morning on the all too short train ride back from DC. That was the only sleep he has had since waking up at 4:00 AM Thursday after a minuscule 3 ½ hours. It has been a very long four days.

The entire train ride back to DC Tuesday involved angry text messages from Wilhelmina regarding her sister slowly driving her insane, dealing with a nauseous teenager, a hysterical best friend, a jumpy Hilda, and keeping Austin and Justin from doing inappropriate things in the restroom. Although he must admit that Amtrak bathrooms were much larger than the ones in airplanes and probably were more accommodating for such things. There was no way he was going to get any rest let alone work done in such conditions.

After the chaos at the Department of State photo shoot, late Tuesday night Marc got to experience the joy of playing musical hotel rooms. In an effort to keep Troy from doing something, stupid he ended up sharing a room with Amanda instead of the suite with Cliff. Monique didn't say anything about her Matchmaking plan being foiled because she knew Amanda needed him. She was in taking the fact that Matt was in the hospital very well. Apparently, if a perfectly healthy person loses consciousness after spending several months in Africa, doctors get worried.

Austin was given Marc's old room and Justin had no choice but to share with his mother. Troy was not happy but Marc would rather get some sleep as Amanda made good use of the food court in the mall below and the 24 hour grocery store two blocks over. (Rather she made Marc make good use of the grocery store two blocks over.) Even in light of the diabetes, they didn't have the heart to keep her from Larry's Cookies, the most he could do was keep it to half a cookie.

Spending quality time with a crying Amanda was for nothing, because before Austin left to spend his morning being Megan's slave at the National Zoo shoot he brought back Marc's manicure kit that he accidentally left in the suite. Troy's mind went to a really bad place, i.e. he accused Marc of having sex with the under age, before Monique informed Troy that Marc was sharing a suite with Cliff before everyone arrived. Even If the accusation made his skin crawl, it was probably better for Troy to think that Marc was a dirty not quite middle age man than him knowing the truth. Because of his unfounded jealousy, Troy took things completely wrong and Cliff's memory card disappeared. Said memory card contained 30% of the Department of State images.

"I'm going to have to let him go." Monique told him as she viciously attacked the cookies at the food court downstairs. They wanted to have this discussion away from the prying eyes of the mode rumor mill. They may have a chance because most people were already on location.

"You can't do that. What happened was my fault. You don't even know if he was the one who lost the card." Marc defended. He didn't want to feel guilty for Troy losing his job. Damn Betty, for giving him morals.

"He was the one who was supposed to load the pictures onto the computer and transmit the files back to New York. Even if I was completely naiveté, I wouldn't believe that he lost it because of a hole in his pocket." Bitter sarcasm was dripping from her every word.

"It could happen." Marc said weakly.

"Let's say for argument's sake that you lost 30% of the shots from a shoot, what would Wilhelmina have done to you?" Monique said as she paid for her cookie.

"It would probably be a good thing that I'm gay because I wouldn't have testicles anymore." Marc said visualizing it. It was so real that he almost reached for his inhaler.

"However, I am not Wilhelmina and I want to avoid a wrongful termination lawsuit. Because he is your boyfriend and you are pretty high up in the company now. Me firing him would look bad even if he did screw up. I need a good reason to terminate his employment. I'm already dealing with rumors that you got your promotion on your knees and back. I don't want to deal with more nasty rumors." Marc was appalled at her words.

"Who would believe that rumor? You're a woman." Marc said in disgust. He was expecting Monique to laugh but she didn't.

"The whole office knows about Jodie." Monique said somberly taking a really big bite of her cookie. At that moment, Marc craved the same junk food.

"Do I want to know how?" He asked darkly, he loath the fact that the entire office knew his darkest secret.

"The usual means, the rumor mill is even worse now that they no longer have Betty and Daniel to speculate about." She said eating even more cookie.

"If you keep eating like that you won't be able to fit in your wedding dress." He said taking the cookie out of her hand and throwing it away. Unlike Amanda, she did not hit him for doing so.

"I'm going to spend the entire day running around the National Zoo trying to monitor three separate shoots. I can have a damn cookie." She responded with irritation as they started to walk out of the food court.

"That was your third one." He said raising an eyebrow as he followed behind.

"You may have a point." She said grudgingly. "I turned to junk food in times of stress. Between the wedding and all the shoots going on, it's too much. I'm going to kill Matt for missing this." She mumbled under breath.

"It's not his fault that he probably contracted some mystery disease in Africa or from one of his special friends." Marc mumbled under his breath. According to his Aunt Briana, due to his travels abroad and some of his lifestyle choices doctors weren't so quick to dismiss the incident Tuesday as just stress and they are keeping him for observations. He may or may not be out in time for the wedding.

"I will make up for what happened with Troy. I can call in a favor with one of Wilhelmina's contacts to get us a re-shoot tomorrow." Marc was sure he could do this.

"Which means you're going to have to get everything at the Smithsonian today. That means no ending at six like we are doing at the zoo. It looks like there won't be any Backstreet Boys for you tonight." Monique's said smiling.

"That's so unfair." Marc said with a pout.

"Unfair is having to do a re-shoot at the State Department because you happen to be dating the imbalanced. You can't be upset about missing the concert. I thought you were Nsync for life, anyway." Monique said with an annoying smirk.

"Let's be honest, they are never getting back together and Nick is cute." He told her as he stepped onto the escalator to the subway station.

"I'll bring you back an autograph. I will even make sure that Troy is so busy or preoccupied that he will not go anywhere near the Smithsonian shoot."

"Thank you." He wasn't sure what he was thanking her for more.

"Now, let me just say one thing as your almost friend and not your boss. I don't like your boyfriend." Monique said bluntly in a way that would make Wilhelmina proud.

"I already know that." Marc said with a roll of his eyes. "You have made that quite obvious."

"Let me finish." Monique said with an annoyed eye roll. "I think it's honorable that you want to move on from random hookups to meaningful relationships. However, the most important part of that is having real trust. If Troy really trusted you, he would not have accused you of screwing the underage or hooking up with your ex boyfriend who you just barely have a professional relationship with again. Not only were his accusations highly unprofessional, but it shows that your relationship is lacking something so basic and necessary." She said softly as they kept moving through the metro station.

"Personally, I think you want us to get along just because you want me with my ex boyfriend again." Marc said under his breath hoping that the sound of the trains below would drown out his words.

"That's not it." Monique said with false innocence. "I just think it would be good for my Creative Director to be able to work with one of the best photographers in the industry. I thought the days of fist fights and petty arguments went away with Wilhelmina's departure and Daniel coming clean about his Betty feelings. If you and Cliff can repair your working relationship and maybe develop some sort of friendship I would be happy. I would be unbelievably happy if it became more but I'm not going to push." He could definitely tell she was giving him her, 'I'm lying for my own self interest' look.

"Right now, I just want a good cover." Now that type of motivation Marc could accept. It was the type of thing Wilhelmina would do if she thought it would help her achieve her main goal.

"If Wilhelmina said something like that I would believe her. However, you're not that selfish." Marc said with a sigh as he waited impatiently behind the 20 other people trying to make their way into the subway.

"I think that's the nicest thing you have ever said to me." Monique said sarcastically as she took her metro card out of her purse. "It seems to me like you're settling with Troy because you are afraid of becoming the gay equivalent of the lonely cat lady. You are too good of a person to just settle." Monique said as they both made their way through the turnstile.

"I can't believe you're making everyone take the subway." Marc whined in an effort to move this conversation away from his personal life.

"Oh my god, stop whining." She said with a trademark eye roll. "You are from New York. Our mayor takes the subway to work and he is a billionaire. Just hop on the yellow train and get off in two stops. With the way the traffic is, you will get there faster this way. You're not the one who's going to have to switch trains." Monique said just as their train arrived. Marc hoped this will be the end of their conversation but somehow they managed to find seats by each other.

"After my first husband died, I made several bad dating decisions because I didn't want to feel so alone. However, a good friend gave me some great advice. It's better to be alone and happy, then be miserable with the wrong person." She said as the train started moving.

Thankfully, they spent the rest of the time until he got off the train discussing work related stuff. He really did not want to think about her words unfortunately they kept echoing in his mind every time he received another text message from Troy.

Hours later, after an insane shoot involving 10 models and 45 different outfits, Marc found himself in another subway car desperately trying to avoid the horrible orange seats. He was too tired to look at the Jefferson Memorial as the train past by. In complete photographer mode, Cliff had his camera out trying to get good shots of the city. Yet Marc was still thinking about Monique's words from that morning. Was he only with Troy so he would not end up alone? The timing was suspicious. His two best friends were leaving him for better lives. Amanda with her baby and maybe Matt if he ever grows the hell up. Betty in England with her dream job and Marc's crush of six years. (Not that he would tell Betty that he considered her one of his good friends and it threw him off when she left.) Maybe Marc was a little upset that Betty actually had someone who loved her and was willing to move to another country to be with her.

Then there was the fact that he almost lost the closest thing that he had to a mother when Wilhelmina got shot. Now that she was alive and no longer at Mode, Marc was forced to share her attentions with Connor. It was difficult to adjust to this new dichotomy in their relationship. Even his new boss was going to be happily married again in mere days for the second time. Happy couples or at least people who had the thing he wanted the most surrounded him: unconditional support, respect, and love. Considering how bad things were going with Matt, in Amanda's case it was having someone that she would respect and love unconditionally, her unborn children.

He would call Betty, Amanda, or even Wilhelmina but they were all busy with their own problems. In Wilhelmina's case her current problem revolves around her new husband still being in Federal custody, a father who did not bother to come to his own daughter's wedding, a sister who only shows up when she needs something, and her future plans falling apart. In between Shots in the gardens at The Smithsonian avoiding his boyfriend's text messages Marc received multiple phone calls from Wilhelmina regarding her horrible business meeting with representatives from Isabella Press. It turns out that Betty's boss Lindsey has decided to get into the U.S. publishing market and bought the publishing house. They asked Wilhelmina to come on board as the new EIC at Isabella for half the money she was making at Mode without the stock options. Apparently, they believed that Wilhelmina was pushed out of the company for marrying Connor and assumed that she was vulnerable. That was not a pretty conversation. Wilhelmina was furious. Marc's ears are still ringing. He knew she wouldn't be willing to help him deal with his crisis of conscience involving Troy.

"Hey, I think this is our stop." Cliff said breaking Marc out of his thoughts just in time to make it through the doors before they closed on him.

"Are you okay?" Cliff asked as they made their way to the escalator. That was one of the nicer things about this subway system that Monique was forcing everybody to utilize. The other good thing was the mall was closed by now and the station was mainly deserted.

"Just thinking while exhausted." Marc said as he dug around in his pocket for that stupid paper card with the panda on it.

"That's never a good thing to do." Cliff said with a silly smile that usually melted Marc's heart.

"I think it's the exhaustion cause by several hours in 100° heat. I'm surprise the subway station is still open." Marc remarked offhandedly.

"It's not even midnight yeah." That was true. According to the ugly digital clock by the turnstile it was only 11:03 pm. He is surprised because it seemed so much later than that. They kept shooting until dusk outside in the gardens. Then he spent an hour checking up on the second team in the natural history museum and the third at the Air and Space museum. His whole body was sore from running between the three locations.

"Yeah, but most of the restaurants around here will be closed." He said as he exited through the turnstile after paying. He found that out yesterday when Amanda tried to send down for more cookies at an inappropriate hour. Thankfully, there is a grocery store next to the mall that is open 24 hours. The fact that he was in charge of late night craving runs again was another reason to absolutely despise Matt.

"But that's what room services for. I would invite you over but I don't feel like dealing with your overly insane boyfriend." That last word was spat out like a curse. Cliff definitely hated Troy but unlike Troy, Cliff had good reason to. Troy did misplace Cliff's memory card.

"You heard about what happened?" Marc asked as they made their way to another escalator.

"You mean when he freaked out after he found out who you shared a suite with this weekend and destroyed several hours of work yesterday out of petty vengeance. This meant that not only did I have to miss Monique's Backstreet Boys bachelorette party to condense two days worth of shooting into one, but I also get to wake up in 6 hours to do re-shoots at a place where they follow you to the bathroom and freak out if you take pictures of the wrong things." Marc was just as upset about the situation but he didn't say anything. He doesn't want to remember how much begging was involved to get an extra day at the Department of State. His punishment was having to baby sit Wilhelmina's sister Sunday. He didn't mention this because he didn't want Cliff or anyone else to know how frustrated he really was.

"We can't know for sure if he purposely lost the memory card. Besides, I thought you hated boy bands?" Marc defended weakly knowing full well that it was not an accident. Cliff just gave him a dark look as they now stood in front of the hotel. "When all the members are above 30, it's a vocal group. You know I like R&B music. Most importantly there was going to be free alcohol and concession food. A 'friend' of Monique's was paying for everything." Cliff said happily especially when talking about the food and alcohol. Marc was not surprised but that was his favorite part of the party.

"Alcohol would be nice." Marc said wishing for oblivion so he could forget everything involving Troy. The memory card thing wasn't the worst he did or did not do. He also accused me of bedding the underage." Cliff just laughed at this despite how disgusted Marc was by such an accusation.

"I'm not surprised. Amanda said he also accused you of sleeping with both her and Matt." Marc snorted at that.

"Please, he made that accusation last night." Marc mumbled under breath. "Amanda's like my sister and Matt is too big of a Dick to have sex with even if he is pretty." If only Amanda realized that six months ago, things would be so much simpler right now.

"I think you should apply that new discretion to the current situation. Why are you still with him?" Cliff asked just as they walked inside the hotel. Marc decided to wait until they reached the elevators to answer. That gave him time to come up with an honest answer.

"According to Monique I'm afraid of becoming the gay equivalent of the lonely cat lady." Marc said with an eye roll trying to hide the fact that he pretty much agreed with her.

"You may avoid the cat lady life with Troy but it's still going to be a lonely existence with him pushing all your friends away. Instead of having dinner with a friend and making fun of today's shoot you are going to go upstairs and order a chef's salad without egg or dressing." Cliff knew him way too well.

"Actually I was going to do half a sandwich, soup, and salad. Monique actually requires that her staff to eat. Eating disorder treatment is now part of the benefit package for all employees." He joked trying to break the tension.

"Sometimes friends are better than significant others." Cliff said poignantly.

"Not when all your friends are moving on." Marc mumbled under breath as they got out of the elevator.

"That's when you find new friends." Cliff shot back obviously hearing the comment that he was not supposed to hear. "I thought you were one floor down?" It wasn't until Cliff said this that Marc realized he was unconsciously following Cliff to his room. Marc realized he was doing this because Cliff's suite was where Marc really wanted to be.

"I don't feel like eating room service alone tonight." He said honestly. "That would be too lonely cat lady for me. I'm willing to risk the consequences, if you are." Marc said using the smile that Cliff could never resist when they were together.

"Okay, but you are handling my memory cards personally." Cliff said letting Marc inside.

The consequences for his decision was horrible but worth it even though the worst thing Marc did was fall asleep on the couch in the suite after a few bites of his sandwich. Said consequences involved a black eye, Mode getting kicked out of the Department of State in the middle of the shoot, spending hours with police and lawyers pressing charges, calling Troy's family to explain what happened, and finely spending Friday morning with HR figuring out the best way to fire his ex boyfriend.

Actually, Marc spending time with Cliff wasn't the only thing that led to such unpleasantness. His decision to break up with Troy in a public place was the major contributing factor. He wanted to wait until they got back to New York to end things properly after he realizes that Monique was right. It was better for him to be alone and happy than with somebody and be completely miserable. Troy was making him completely miserable. Unfortunately, inappropriate remarks and inappropriate hugging while on the job led to Marc needing to end things as quick as possible. His biggest mistake was trusting the guy who slept on a stoop overnight not to make a scene in public.

The saddest part of all of this was after visiting the makeup person to get rid of the evidence that he's a battered boyfriend he was breaking into the emergency chocolate supply that he kept for Amanda. At least he was trying to. Unfortunately, Amanda took the chocolate out of his hands indicated before he could say anything. She was meeting him to go to her appointment with her biological mother's lawyer. He completely forgot about that until she arrived in his office.

"Does the term gestational diabetes mean nothing to you?" He asked giving her a napkin to spit out the chocolate.

"You're so mean." She said doing what he wanted her to do.

"I'm just looking out for my future godchildren."

"I'm doing this for the twins not you. Even though you're so mean, I brought you a present though but I need a favor first."

"I'm not going out to get you ice cream. I would tell you to have Monique's assistant do it but everybody's on strict orders to not enable you to go off your 'healthy for the babies' diet. We have to be at the lawyers in 45 minutes anyway." After being yelled at for what happened with Troy he received another lecture yesterday about not giving in to Amanda.

"Again, that's so mean. You can still marry people right?" Her question confused him.

"I hope so, otherwise Wilhelmina is going to be furious." Marc said rolling his eyes. "As long as it is a man and a woman." He added afterwards bitterly.

"The judge who was supposed to marry Mo and Gio canceled. I need to find a replacement. " Amanda explained.

"You want me to unite my boss and her sandwich loving husband and holy straight matrimony?" Marc questioned.

"You owe Monique for what happened yesterday. I'm surprise she didn't fire you." Amanda told him with an angry expression that obviously came from Monique.

"So am I." Marc mumbled to himself. "Fine, I will do it." He said in acquiescence. "Now give me the good news."

"I don't know. You won't get me ice cream anymore besides we need to get to the lawyer." She said trying to avoid this conversation

"If you tell me what it is I will get you a scoop of the no sugar added stuff at lunch after the lawyer." He offered.

"That can't happen because we're going to the rehearsal dinner." Amanda said with a pout.

"You are going to the rehearsal dinner. Someone has to stay here." He said in irritation.

"There is nothing going on here in New York that can't be handled by blackberry. We are only back because of the awards banquet tonight. You are coming with me. I need all the help I can get dealing with my psychotic mom and ass of a father. You are an expert at getting along with the wealthy and pretentious. You owe me." Monique said as she went straight for his chocolate door."

"Why did I not go to Vegas?" Monique asked and Marc couldn't help but wonder the same thing.

"Because your mom would not give you the money to buy Meade publications if you got married without her again." Amanda said trying to get another truffle but was prevented by both he and Monique.

"I deserve a truffle. I got Marc to do the wedding. Also when you forced me to pack up Troy's things yesterday after the people with guns took him away I've found where he had the memory card." Marc was so happy he probably could kiss her at that moment. Cliff spent half of Wednesday night lamenting over his lost images.

"I got 99 problems, but Marc's dick of a now former boyfriend is no longer one. That is two less things to worry about as my wedding slowly comes apart and the magazine goes to hell. Now if you could only wipe out the memory of Daniel going down on Betty in my office everything would be wonderful." Sarcasm was dripping from every word. She was too disgusted it that to be a lie. After Marc picked his mouth off the floor, he quickly got up from his seat and went to his emergency liquor stash to pour her a glass.

"I think you'll need this." He said passing the glass to her.  
"Probably, but I can't be drunk if I'm going to deal with my mom." She said turning him down. Marc drank the glass instead to get the image of Daniel doing that with Betty out of his mind. He knew they were together but he just didn't want to think about it like that especially when he wouldn't be getting any anytime soon.

"I don't want to talk about it. Amanda, please call the temp agency to get me a new assistant. After that, call housekeeping and have them disinfect my office." Monique ordered, still shivering.

"I thought you were going to have the interns do that?" Amanda questioned her friend.

"I've decided Justin is better suited for being our new micro blogger. He did great in DC. I'm also going to have him do the blog during Amanda's maternity leave. However, he will still works on other projects for me. I need someone to do my schedule and I just realized how important it is to have an assistant that can keep people from having oral sex in my office." Marc agreed with her on that point. Amanda agreed to help on the way to the lawyers.

"Speaking of people doing inappropriate things in my office, it's nice of you to join us." Monique said to a red face Betty and smug looking Daniel that walked in. "Would you like to tell me why you had sex in my office?"

"We were not having sex in your office." Daniel said defensively. Marc knew better.

"I don't want to hear it. I know what I saw. Maybe you forgot that was no longer your office and you can't do that there with Betty anymore. Just give me one good reason why I should forgive you." Monique said with arms crossed giving both a hard look.

"I wiped down the chair with the bleach wipes." The not so chubby one anymore said still blushing. Marc just looked annoyed.

"That helps." Monique said just as Amanda's start screaming. Within seconds, she was on Betty lifting one chubby hand into the air displaying a vintage engagement ring. 'Another straight marriage,' Marc thought with a frown.

"You proposed?" Amanda asked shrieking. Daniel just nodded and then was attacked by a hugging Amanda who was crying at this point. Marc blamed the pregnancy hormones.

"Okay that explains what I saw." Monique said out loud. "Just remember what I said yesterday. It's better to be happy and alone than to be miserable with the wrong person." Monique whispered to him before attacking the happy couple. She obviously picked up on him being upset.

"Congratulations." Monique said hugging Daniel after Amanda finally switched focus again to Betty. "I'm not even that upset that you may steal my thunder at my wedding if it actually happens the way things are going. May I suggest Vegas for your ceremony?"

To be continued


	24. The Juicy Parts

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I apologize for the long wait. I'm trying to focus on finishing my other story Scenes from Freshman Year. Once that story is completed this is going to be the next story I will focus on.

I split this chapter in two parts so I could get the first part up sooner.

* * *

**The Juicy Parts. I**

Wilhelmina sat on the narrow bed completely satisfied after her first conjugal visit as Connor's wife. The fact that she was able to see Connor this morning was her present from the Senator. He did not bother to come to her wedding, but he had no trouble using his good name to get her extra time with her husband. She didn't know if she could survive the next six to nine months without these visits.

Her new life was slowly coming apart at the seams because of her past mistakes. The biggest mistake of all was not hitting her first stepmother's evil brother with a baseball bat the first time he tried to lay a hand on her. If she could change anything in her life that would be what she would change. (Although choosing a different gestational carrierwas also on the list of thing she would change if she could.) If he never touched her, Renee would not exist and therefore, she would not be back for the sole purpose of ruining her life via blackmail.

"Are you okay?" Her husband asked as he ran his hand down her cheek.

"I'm fine, Connor. I'm just thinking about a lot of things." He gave Wilhelmina a look that told her that he did not believe her.

"If you're still able to think, I'm not doing my job right." He said kissing her collarbone.

"You're good, but you're not good enough to push away these thoughts. The Isabella Press deal fell apart." She said with a frown. "Not only that but they want me to save Isabella itself from complete ruin."

"Is that a good or bad thing?" he asked as he pulled away from her slightly.

"It is horrendous considering they are only willing to pay me half of what I made at Mode. Marc is probably getting paid more now as a Junior Creative Director or whatever the hell Monique is calling the Creative Director position to keep certain idiots from being jealous of Marc for obtaining it so quickly. Lindsey thinks that by making me untouchable I'll do whatever the hell they want." She spat out with venom. She was the puppet master not the puppet.

"They obviously don't know you very well." Connor said with the smile that she loved so much.

"It happened before but it will never happen again." Wilhelmina said thinking about being 15 and not able to fight back.

"Willie." Connor said softly touching her face.

"I don't want to talk about it." She said angrily pulling away from him.

"Unfortunately it is currently sleeping on your couch." That was enough to make Wilhelmina get up from the narrow cot completely and search for her underwear and blouse. Her skirt was still around her waist because Connor did not bother to take it off. She found her now unusable panties near the cot. Thankfully, she had another pair in her purse that was currently locked in the trunk of her car.

"I would never make a guest, even an uninvited one, sleep on the couch, she is in the guest bedroom." Wilhelmina said as she found her bra. At least that was still wearable.

"Do you know why Renee is here?" Connor asked her.

"The same reason why the child I no longer speak of came to visit last time, extortion of the non-emotional kind. Renee finally figured out that her birth certificate was not as legitimate as it should have been."

"What does she want from you?" He asked in a whisper.

"Everything." Wilhelmina said putting on her shirt before explaining what she could under the circumstances.

* * *

"I can't believe you didn't tell me that you were going to propose." Monique said as they waited in Claire's office for the food and lawyers to show up. They were supposed to sign the final papers that morning. Since she controlled the trust buying Wilhelmina's shares, Matt did not need to be there. That was good because he was still hospitalized (most likely on Aunt Brianna's orders for his own protection from evil mommy dearest). Even though she was still mad at him for Monday's stupidity, she knew she had to see him eventually just not today. She already had too much to handle from an imploding wedding to strange personnel matters.

"It was a spur of the moment thing." Daniel responded with a shrug.

"The ring on her finger does not screen 'spur of the moment'. It must have taken forever to find something like that." She said impressed. It really was a beautiful ring.

"More like 5 minutes and extreme luck. I was with your fiancé yesterday when he went to pick up the rings. That was in the case and I just had to buy it." Why wasn't she surprised? His last ring fell into his lap too.

"You bought your engagement ring as an impulse purchase?" Monique asked incredulously.

"I was planning on asking her eventually and as you said, the ring was perfect." Daniel said shrugging.

"Because you found the perfect ring yesterday you decided that last night was the perfect time to propose?" Monique questioned.

"Not exactly." Daniel said before explaining.

* * *

**17 hours earlier**

It was late afternoon before he arrived back at the Suarez house after calling everyone he could think of to save Monique's wedding. He considered this payback for her helping to get him with Betty. He would leave the rest to his assistant when she finally arrived in New York.

At least trying to convince Monique's florist to take her back, took his mind off the DVD in his pocket. He wasn't sure he was ready to watch whatever final message Molly left him. He would really like to know why she made sure their marriage was never legal but Daniel doubted the answer to that question would be in this DVD.

All thoughts of Molly went out of his head when he saw his exhausted girlfriend sleeping on the couch in jeans and a T shirt. She looked adorable. He couldn't help but kiss her. Too bad he did not wait to do that until he safely concealed the engagement ring upstairs. Betty's eyes opened instantly as their lips touched.

"I love waking you up like that. I'm surprise that you're here. I thought Lindsey would have you busy all day." He said with a smile.

"I like when you wake me up like that. He let me leave early. I'm surprised I arrived to an empty house. I know DJ was going to be gone for a while but I thought you would be here. This was supposed to be your one lazy day." She said just as she gave him another quick peck.

"I told you I was having lunch with Gio." He said with a shrug.

"Yes but it's after five." She said pointing to the clock on the wall.

"I had to help with wedding stuff because I am the new best man." As soon as he was done Betty's mouth opened wide in shock.

"What? You are now the best man at my ex-boyfriend's wedding?" She asked incredulously.

"Technically, you two never dated." Betty just rolled her eyes but said nothing. "It's a long story. Let's just say certain other former girlfriends are not as accepting of his impending marriage as you are."

"Why would they not be accepting? He loves Monique." Betty said naively. That was when Daniel explained all the excruciating details to Betty including why certain nasty things have been printed in the tabloids about their relationship recently.

"So she is the one who has been telling the press that we were sleeping together before Molly died?" Betty asked in a mix of surprise and anger.

"Most likely, most of the Mode rumor mill knows not to publish anything like that." He responded with just as much venom.

"So she thinks that by ruining his wedding Gio will come back to her?" Betty asked in complete skepticism.

"Some people just can't let go." He wanted to make some joke about Henry at this point but knew enough to not say anything else

"Speaking of crazy ex girlfriends who cannot let go, did you know your ex girlfriend who tried to kill me was back in town? I did not even know that they let her out of the hospital. She was supposed to be in for three years." Oh fuck. This is what he gets for trying not to worry his girlfriend over something silly. The universe hates him and therefore Betty would run into the crazy one.

"Mr. Slater got his new son in law's sentence reduced so much that he's getting out in time for February fashion week even if he probably will get shipped back to Australia. I'm surprised she spent that much time locked up with his connections. I was warned that she was in New York, but I didn't think you guys would meet up. She didn't try to hurt you?" Daniel asked with concern looking over her body for bruises and other types of injuries.

"I'm fine, mostly. Although the suit I wore this morning is completely gone although that was more Wilhelmina's fault." Betty said apologetically.

"Don't worry it was from the budget collection." Daniel lied not wanting Betty to know that he got her a $1,000 business suit. "I just care about it, if you're OK. What happened?" Daniel asked again as he became more concerned.

"Lindsey offered Wilhelmina a position at a magazine that he just acquired in the United States with Matt's mother. She was there too unfortunately saying hateful things about Amanda that I just don't want to repeat. Anyway, Wilhelmina was insulted by the offer. Even I knew it was significantly less than what she was paid at Mode without the stock options. When she tried to walk away after saying some stuff that I will not repeat, someone from Isabella Press said something not very nice about Connor. I will leave out all the curse words but as sensually they talked about how she was forced out a mode because she married Connor and no one would trust her to run a company now that she was married to the guy who almost ruined Meade publishing. She responded by throwing her wine at this person but she missed." Betty said with a shrug.

"You should be happy that she didn't throw the bottle. Lindsay took over Isabella Press?" Daniel questioned.

"I can't tell you that." Betty said quickly.

"I will take that as a yes. I wasn't asking about your suit, I meant what happened with Renee?"

"After Wilhelmina tried to leave a second time, her sister showed up for reasons unknown. She said some not so nice things about you and me before Wilhelmina convinced everyone that she needed to leave to take her crazy sister to her therapy appointment. Considering Renee started calling Wilhelmina her mother I think everyone believed her." Betty said looking sad.

"I'm not sure that she was pretending." Daniel mumbled under breath remembering a private conversation years ago when Renee told him that she was secretly adopted and was trying to find her birth mother. Her adoptive mother told her that she was the child of a family member who got pregnant at 15. He didn't quite believe her because there were so many little things that told him she was related to Wilhelmina Slater even if the huge age difference made that seem suspicious. However, the same age difference pointed to Wilhelmina being that 15-year-old family member. When Wilhelmina threatened to cut off his balls if he hurt Renee, it sounded more like the threats of an angry father than that of an overprotective sister. Considering his reputation at the time, he could see a desperate parent resorting to what Wilhelmina did to get her away from him. Too bad he didn't come to this conclusion when he was dealing with a scheming Wilhelmina trying too absurd his position. This would have been excellent blackmail material if he could prove it.

"What exactly did she say?" Daniel asked breaking from his former train of thought. Besides it was almost absurd.

"No worse than what everybody has been saying on the news and in tweets. It doesn't matter Daniel." The fact that Betty was not looking at him as she spoke told Daniel that it did matter to Betty.

"Are you sure it doesn't matter? They're saying a lot of nasty things about us in the media."

"You were never shoved in a locker during high school. What they're saying now is nothing. I've heard worse." Betty said shrugging. Really he shouldn't be shocked to hear stuff like this. He knew that she was bullied in school but she never gave details.

"You were shoved in a locker in high school?" Betty just nodded.

"Who would do something like that?" Daniel asked very disturbed.

"Kimni. That was not even the worst thing she did to me during high school. There were other things but I've pushed most of that out of my mind. It doesn't matter anymore." She responded with a shrug.

"Yet you still got her a job at Mode." Again, Betty just nodded.

"You are too good of a person for us mere mortals. This is why I'm sure that whatever Renee said to you, you took it too seriously." Daniel prompted.

"It was really nothing. The worst thing she said to me was that I was your rebound girlfriend after Molly died." Daniel could hear the sorrow in her voice as she spoke.

"No that was Amanda and she volunteered." Daniel said with a shrug.

"I know she told me." Betty said with a frown.

"You're upset about that?"

"No," Daniel gave her a sharp look at that. "Okay maybe you but not because your physical relationship with her. Somehow, in the last year Amanda became your best friend. She knew you got sucked into the order of the phoenix before I did. Even Monique knew what was going on before I did and you two were not even that close yet. Now you're in her wedding." Betty said sitting back on the couch in irritation.

"I think it was Circle of the Phoenix. There was this big lawsuit with the Harry Potter lady and they had to change the name. You know I'm going to have other friends but you are always going to be the most important to me." Daniel said squeezing her hand reassuringly.

"Yet you couldn't talk to me about how you felt after Molly died." She said with a pained expression that said more than her words ever could.

"It was a complicated time. I just lost my wife but at the same time, I found myself in love with my best friend. Trust me Betty I knew I was already in love with you. I've known for more than two years. I just felt so…" Daniel stopped not knowing how to finish that sentence.

"Guilty." Betty supplied squeezing his hand back.

"Yes. I felt like I was betraying her memory. I felt like an ass because the morning of Molly's memorial service I woke up next to you completely hard." Daniel said playing with the blanket that Betty was using earlier.

"That was pretty normal by that point." Betty mumbled to herself.

"Yes, but it shouldn't have been if I really loved her. I was starting to wonder if I did. I became more confused when I was scattering her ashes in Nepal. I really needed you and you weren't there." He felt like he was going to cry but wouldn't.

"I wanted to be there too. I can't believe it took that long to get my visa." Betty said in annoyance telling him that she really did want to be there.

"That may have been my fault. Remember the incident with the State department official a couple of years ago?" Daniel asked.

"I'm trying to repress that." She says shivering.

"Sorry about that." Daniel apologized before continuing. "After what happened became known to her boss she was transferred to counselor affairs and had an Afghanistan assignment in her future."

"That doesn't seem that bad."

"She wasn't happy about it because she was on the fast track to becoming a Deputy Assistant Secretary or something like that, which was her dream job. She blames me for not getting it. Somehow she was able to mess with your visa application. She no longer works for the department." Daniel didn't know any of this until Monique uncovered it during her quest to get the shoot done at Harry S. Truman building which is why she was able to get permission.

"Why would she- never mind. Did everyone think we were sleeping together before we were actually together?" Betty asked in exasperation.

"Pretty much, our relationship has always been more than boss and assistant even when you were still my assistant. We never really had a normal type of friendship either. It's always been deeper. The only other person I have anything close like that with is Amanda and that was only in the last year." He explained.

"But your relationship with Amanda was never that platonic." Betty said darkly.

"Exactly and I don't think I could completely comprehend that until I came back and you were no longer my assistant. I have been in love with you for a long time but I convinced myself that it could never work because of a million different things including Mode. As long as we were safely entrenched in our roles as boss and assistant everything was okay. However, you had a new position and I was terrified. That is why I latched onto the first thing that really came along which explains the Circle of the Phoenix and my friends with benefits relationship with Amanda. The good thing was we were actually friends this time. I found out that makes a difference." Daniel said with a smile.

"You were running away from me?" She asked.

"Probably," Daniel said not looking at her. "Do you have any idea how overwhelming you are Betty Suarez?" Daniel asked but he didn't give her time to answer. He was too afraid of what she may say. "I think you feel the same way about me. That's why you went back to Matt." He says as a statement not a question.

"Yes. You're just as overwhelming. Matt was simple. You are many things Daniel but simple is not one of them."

"I try not to be." He said with a laugh.

"Whatever is between us has always been more complicated as friends of benefits or even simple dating." Betty explained.

"It's going to be forever no matter what." He responded with a smile believing those words wholeheartedly.

"Is that a jewelry bag?" Betty questioned, now pointing to the bag sitting next to Daniel on the couch. Really he should have left it on the floor.

"I'm pouring out my soul to you and you want to look at what I picked up shopping. I told you about the jewelry store incident. I found a few things I liked for my mom there while we were waiting for the problem to be fixed." He lied.

"That's not why I stopped." Betty said as she grabbed the bag and looked inside before Daniel could stop her. "You almost sounded like you were proposing…" Betty paused as she pulled the ring box out. "That's not for your mother. Is that an engagement ring?"

"Yes. No, I did not get that for my mother." He answered with a sigh, so much for hiding this for a few months.

"You're proposing?"

"No—yes—sort of." Daniel stuttered out.

"I found that slightly confusing." Betty said with half a smile.

"I was there at the jewelry store and I saw this ring that I knew would be perfect for you. It was custom made for a woman who saved her best friend when he was dealing with the grief of losing his first wife who died in childbirth. She was his best friend and then she became his lover and wife. It made me think of you." Daniel explained as he pulled the ring out and showed it to her

"So you bought the ring because you knew it was perfect for me. It is beautiful and very different." She said taking a good look at the ring.

"I got it because it is special just like you. I already told you that this was going to be forever. I want to marry you someday even if that day is tomorrow or 50 years from now. Whenever you're ready this ring will be waiting for you." He said holding up the ring.

"What if I'm ready now?" Her question actually caused Daniel to drop the ring.

"You want to marry me?" Daniel was in complete shock as Betty went to retrieve the fallen ring.

Yes. Daniel will you marry me?" she said handing the ring back to him. His response was to place the ring on her finger. Afterwards he proceeded to do certain very inappropriate things in her old bedroom in celebration. It turns out sex really is better when it is with someone who was the other half of you.

* * *

"She proposed to you?" Monique asked in open mouth shock. Her mind was on overload from everything to the proposal to Daniel finding out that his marriage to Molly was never legal. She would have to talk to him about that later. Right now she would focus on the completely unexpected proposal. She did not see that coming. She also did not see Wilhelmina Slater come into the room.

"You proposed again? You do realize there is some middle ground between meaningless one night stands and forever? Even you're not that stupid." Wilhelmina said icily.

"Actually she proposed to me." Wilhelmina still gave him a dubious look. "Besides Betty is the type of person that you want to spend forever with." Daniel said sternly.

"I'm sure that's the case now that she knows how to dress better." Daniel just shrugged most likely because it was true.

"You're not going to make any other snide comments." Monique asked.

"It's not a snide comment when it's the truth. Her sense of style was the only thing I didn't like about her other than her morals. In four years I have succeeded in teaching her that the world is gray and patterns should be worn sparingly. Contrary to what you may think I like Betty. More importantly I respect her." Daniel scoffed at that.

"Then why did you allow your sister to ambush her yesterday." Daniel said disbelieving everything Wilhelmina spoke.

"My sister has never done anything I have asked her to do since the moment the doctors took her away from me, why should now be any different." Monique found her wording highly peculiar but said nothing. She was definitely going to have to pay a visit to her Australian 'brother' soon. "She's the one who showed up at my house completely unannounced and will not leave. She was the one who decided to follow me. She was also the one who decided to attack your girlfriend, I'm sorry, fiancé in the middle of the restaurant. If the new owner of Isabella thought so little of me as to offer _me half the money I made at Mode _for the same job before that incident, I shudder at what Lindsey believes now." Wilhelmina said with thinly concealed irritation. She was so going to need to talk to Marc as soon as possible.

"I'm sure Lindsey thought very little of you before your sister arrived. I know I do." Claire spoke loudly as she entered the room.

"Claire, please don't antagonize her. She hasn't signed the papers yet." Monique said trying to avoid unnecessary bickering.

"I thought you hated her as much as I do." Claire whispered pseudo voice.

"Hate is personal. This is business. I respect her ability to do her job." Monique said honestly.

"I have to respect anyone who can turn Player into something that I would willingly put on my coffee table. She took a poor man's_ Maximum_ and turned it into _Playboy_ meets the _Wall Street Journal_. Most don't have the ability to see a diamond in the rough."

"Or take a punishment and turn it into a reward." Claire mumbled just before an excitable Hilda ran into the room.

"How could you not tell me that you asked my sister to marry you?" Her question was punctuated with a slap across the face.

"You know I could use some good news as I try to figure out how the hell to tell Monique that her teenage sister in law is pregnant." There are certain things that nobody wants to find out by accident, this was one of them. That was her only thought as everything went black.

**To be continued**

Don't worry, the next chapter is done and with my beta, Teddy Bear.


	25. The Juicy Parts II

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

**The Juicy Parts II**

"How could you not tell your own mother that you're engaged?" His mother asked in a way that made Daniel sincerely wish that he told Betty not to wear her ring. Mr. Suarez's reaction that morning was bad enough. He was only placated when he found out that Betty proposed to Daniel, sort of.

"It was a spur of the moment thing. I was going to tell you after we became officially free and clear of Wilhelmina. Shouldn't we be focusing on your unconscious EIC?" Daniel said, as he placed a still unconscious Monique on the couch. At least she was breathing though. Wilhelmina scowled at him. That wasn't anything unusual. It was her normal expression probably due to overuse of Botox.

"Really Claire, I'm surprised you didn't know. I did." Wilhelmina said with that same smirk.

"Not helping." Daniel said as he grabbed his phone to let security know what was going on. He should have stayed in London.

"She knew before I did?" His mother asked with the glare that unnerved him as a child.

"Because she overheard me talking to Monique. Can we talk about this later? We need to focus on the unconscious woman on the couch. We were not planning on telling anybody until tomorrow but Amanda noticed the ring. You know how she is with expensive jewelry. Hi, this is Daniel Meade we have a code 16 in the president's office." Daniel said into his phone as soon as the security guard picked up. Code 16 was for unconscious person in the office not caused by alcohol. At least he thinks that's code 16. Whenever he found somebody unconscious in this office alcohol was usually involved.

"My sister told Amanda before she told me. I had to find out from the makeup person." Hilda said incredulously.

"We didn't tell anybody except for your father and DJ. Why are you even in the building?" Really, he thought he would see less of her now that Betty no longer worked here. Then again, Justin now worked here, so who knew.

"I work here now. I am the new staff hair stylus. I just accepted the job when in DC." He felt sorry for his future nephew. "That also means I get to hear the latest Mode gossip without having to wait for Amanda. Apparently, Henry just won the 'when the hell will Daniel and Betty get engaged' pool." Daniel just rolled his eyes at that. Betty is not going to be happy when she finds out about that.

"You told your nephew before your own mother?" His mother almost yelled at him. Thankfully at that moment Candy walked in with the one responsible for her future sister in law being unconscious.

"Seriously Daniel, next time you planned some big life altering event please tell me ahead of time so I don't get blindsided by the press. I don't want to know how Suzuki has my new cell phone number. This is a bad…" Candy started before she noticed the unconscious Monique lying on the couch. "I assume you told her." She said looking at Hilda.

"More like she accidentally over heard when…" Wilhelmina politely trailed off as she pointed to Hilda. That was almost nice for her.

"Okay you three out of here right now. You guys can argue about whatever you're arguing about in the waiting room. I will take care of this." Candy said literally pushing him out of the office.

"I already called security." Daniel told her.

"I will go ahead and call security to cancel the ambulance. Monique despises hospitals and is not going to want the press to find out about this. They will if she gets carted out in an ambulance. They had a field day in March when this happened last time."

"You're supposed to save me from unpleasant situations not your old boss." He said in a whisper.

"Yes, but I got ambushed this morning by the press as I lead an absolutely terrified 15 year old into the building. You owe me. After this is sorted, we need to work on your official statement. The London Press is already becoming restless." This was going to be a very long day.

* * *

"Hey what's egg salad doing here?" Amanda said pointing with a carrot stick at the guy in a suit from four seasons ago with those glasses that she would recognize anywhere.

Carrot sticks were the only snack that Marc would let her get. She hated him because he wouldn't get her chocolate fudge cookies anymore. The carrot sticks were not doing anything to calm her nerves as they waited to meet with the lawyers. With her most likely having to go on bed rest any day now she could use the puppy money, however, she was expecting the worst. Nothing has been going right lately so why should this be any different.

"Who is egg salad?" Marc asked in puzzlement.

"Betty's former knight in nerdy armor who turned out to be a complete prick. Egg salad was what Gio called him. I wonder what he's doing here?" Amanda asked taking another carrot stick out of the bag. You think that she could at least have some spicy ranch salad dressing to go with this.

"Considering that these are the people in charge of the puppy trust fund, I would say he works here as an accountant. I don't pay attention to people when they tell me stuff that I don't care about, so I don't know. By the way, you spend way too much time with your new best friend's almost husband if you're using his names for everyone." She detected a bit of anger and jealousy in his voice.

"You know you will always be my best friend. I can have more than one. Besides you're the one who will be the Babies' godfather."

"Along with Monique, and only because Daniel is in England." Marc mumbled in annoyance. "Don't be like that I just don't like Henry that well. He's like the main reason Matt is so paranoid." She said quickly.

"I think Daniel is more responsible for that paranoia then Henry ever was. First, you have actually slept with Daniel. Then there is the fact that Betty was actually in love with Daniel during the entire course of their relationship. Hell, she may have been in love with Daniel during a part of her relationship with Henry. However most important of all, you had sex with Daniel a little less than a month before you started sleeping with Matt and therefore we're not sure whose child you are carrying until the DNA test comes back." Marc pointed out.

"Just go ahead and rub it in." Amanda mumbled to herself. "Some best friend you are."

"Great, he is coming over." Marc mumbled.

"Amanda, I thought that was you. What are you doing here? " He said with a smile that seemed unnatural.

"We're here to see the lawyer about my puppy trust fund. Halston died right before Betty and Daniel left for London. They're probably just being nice and telling me that I've been cut off from the trust fund in person. Bad timing all things considered." Amanda said pointing to her way too large stomach.

"You're pregnant?" Henry asked confused. That's when she remembered that they were still trying to hide her pregnancy the last time he was around.

"No, I just gained a lot of weight from spending too much time with my friends Ben and Jerry." Amanda said sarcastically. She's pretty sure Marc mumbled something like "that's half true," but she could not be sure.

"Of course, I'm pregnant. You would have noticed this last time if you were paying attention to something other than Betty or Daniel."

"How is Betty doing in London? According to the tabloids she's dating Daniel but I don't trust those things." She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Of course, he would ask about Betty. Actually, that was probably the only reason he's even talking to her.

"They are not dating," as soon as the words were out of her mouth she saw this look of relief in Henry's eyes. "They're engaged," and in a second it was gone. That's when Marc held up his phone to show a headline about Betty and Daniel being engaged. Henry looked as if his world crashed down around him.

"This is true?" He asked pointing to the phone.

"We saw the engagement ring ourselves. Also, you need to call Kenny, you won the engagement pool." Amanda added smiling.

"Betty was practically glowing in a non-radioactive way as she showed off the vintage engagement ring." Henry became even more nauseous as Marc pulled up a picture that not only showed the stunning ring but also Daniel and Betty making out like teenagers. He just looked miserable. This made Amanda so happy that she temporarily forgot about all her problems.

"Ms. Robinson will see you now." The receptionist called after her and Marc.

"We have to go now but I will tell Betty that you said hi." Amanda said leaving a devastated Henry behind.

"God, I needed that." She said smirking to Marc as they followed the assistant.

"You're so evil. The hormones are making it worse. This is why you're my best friend." Marc said smiling as he grabbed her hand. "It felt like old times."

"Of course, I'm evil when I need to be. Monique taught me that. The fashion TV thing was a nice touch. Wait, how did Suzuki know so quickly?" She asked.

"I had to do something when you were in the bathroom throwing up, again. Besides it is better that a friend leaks the news to Suzuki before someone like our favorite bitch Meagan does. At least I include a flattering picture of the not so chubby anymore one." Marc said just before they finally took a seat in the lawyer's office. Within seconds, she was nervous again. Minutes later she would find out there would be no point because instead of losing the puppy money, she would be keeping it.

"Your biological mother was worried about you being able to handle such a vast amount of wealth. That's why she decided to have you take care of Holston as a test." The lawyer explained again.

"I don't know where she got that from." Amanda said nervously.

"The fact that you spent your rent money on a pair of designer shoes and was evicted may have had something to do with it." Marc said pointedly

"That was like two years ago. I don't do that now."

"That's because you and Daniel devised a way for you to get free maternity clothes." Marc said with a smirk.

"That's because I'm writing articles about it for Mode and some parenting magazine. I cannot act like I used to. I have children to take care of. Let's be honest, between me and Matt, I am the mature one." Marc actually shivered when she said that.

"Unfortunately, that's true, poor babies." Marc said patting her stomach affectionately.

"Regardless of your past spending habits, by taking care of Halston successfully for three years you have proved yourself as responsible there for you are entitled to the trust that Miss Sommers set up for you." Amanda was completely shocked by that. Some time she was convinced that Fey never cared about her. This just proved she did.

"How much money are we talking about?" Marc asked because Amanda was still in shock.

"I'm not allowed to disclose the full amount, however, she will receive a monthly allowance of $4000 and will receive an additional $2000 when your children are born. Also you will be able to receive an advance if you want to go back to school or start your own business." When she heard the lawyers words Amanda let go of the breath she did not know she was holding. She placed her hands on her stomach protectively and mentally told her children that they would be okay. They didn't need Matt because their grandmother decided to help take care of them.

* * *

"God, please tell me that was all a dream." Monique said as she slowly sat up from what appeared to be Claire's couch. That was not a good thing.

"I would but I don't like you that much." The sardonic voice of Wilhelmina Slater said. "Although, even I wouldn't tell you that you were going to be an aunt that way. Although you're probably thinking grandmother considering you see your future sister in law as the child you can never conceive." At that point, Wilhelmina had what appeared to be a brandy at that moment.

"I'm personally surprised you have decent liquor in this office because the troll is dry this week even if it was hidden underneath a stash of chocolate truffles."

"The liquor is in here for business reasons, supposedly. The chocolate is Amanda's most likely. Up until recently, we all have been enabling Amanda to keep up her chocolate habit. Because Amanda has gestational diabetes the chocolate stashes will have to go," along with the brandy, Monique added privately. That was another thing she was going to add to the list of things to deal with.

"Just like her mother." Wilhelmina murmured.

"She had gestational diabetes? God, I wish we knew more about her pregnancy." She mumbled. At least, Monique got to talk to her biological mother on occasion. Amanda never really had the privilege. How much easier with things be if they could ask basic questions.

"I don't know about the diabetes but she did consume vast quantities of chocolate during her pregnancy. I'm personally surprised that she was barely showing at nine months. She was always throwing up. That is how I knew Amanda was pregnant by Fashion Week." Wilhelmina said with her trademark smirk.

"Of course." Monique said, wondering if that was true, why didn't she use that information for her own purposes? "Where is everyone? Please tell me that they didn't call an ambulance this time. I have to deal with my mother in less than 2 hours and she won't take hospitalization as an excuse for missing her wonderful rehearsal lunch." Monique said sarcastically.

"Daniel is currently being paraded for not telling his mother or Betty's sister about the engagement."

"So they decided to leave me in here with you completely unconscious?" Monique asked incredulously.

"No they left you in here with Daniel's assistant who was smart enough to cancel the ambulance because she knew that you wouldn't want it. He apparently brought her from London because he can't go anywhere without somebody trailing behind him. She's currently in Claire's restroom dealing with your hysterical future sister in law." She said pointing to the door to the right.

"Candy was my assistant first. She is also one of my good friends and one of my bridesmaids." Monique corrected her.

"That explains why she took the girl to the gynecologist this morning for confirmation. From what I overheard you have a little more than eight months to prepare for the inevitable."

"She does have a name. It is Antonella." Monique said in annoyance.

"Yes but I don't know what it is nor do I care. Although, I do wonder why she trusted your assistant and some total stranger instead of you or her brother with this? Trouble in paradise?" Wilhelmina said looking at her with pure contempt.

"I'm not going to hurt her. However the other person responsible for this situation is a dead man." Monique said viciously.

"It wasn't anyone in the family?" If Monique didn't live the life that she lived she would think that question to be absurd but all things considered it wasn't. The fact that Wilhelmina was asking a question like that told Monique that those sorts of questions were not absurd in her world either, unfortunately

"I don't think so." She said thinking about certain unpleasant memories. "It was most likely her way too old for her boyfriend who broke up with her a couple of weeks ago. He probably broke up with her once he got what he wanted. Now he is a dead man. Though, you never know. Gio's two Cousins just quit the wedding in the most suspicious way possible and Daniel is now his best man. Maybe it's guilt, instead of stupidity on their part." She said thinking about this silly excuse they gave her for leaving the wedding along with lots of apologies. "I didn't think a 'close family friend' would touch my sister that way but he did. Fortunately my mom believed us."

"Be very thankful that your mother believed you." Wilhelmina said finishing her glass as she made no eye contact. "Not everyone would. Not everyone would speak up in the first place. That sort of thing is unfortunately very common." Her comment was like the final piece of the puzzle. Something like that happened to Wilhelmina as a teenager and most likely nobody listen to her side of the story.

"If it was something like that I hoped that she would have come to me. If not she has a lot of people she can trust including Candy and Hilda. Antonella and Justin went to the same school and are friends. They bonded over losing their parents. Of all of the parents of her friends, Hilda would probably be the only one who knew what she would be going through. Actually, Antonella probably didn't say anything. Hilda probably picked up on all the signs I missed. God, she threw up on Matt Tuesday. Flu, yeah right. That should have been an obvious sign. I've been dealing with a pregnant Amanda since February fashion week and I completely missed it. She wasn't afraid of me, she wishes waiting for me to notice and I didn't. Maybe it's a good thing I cannot have biological children because I'm horrible at this parenting thing. " Monique said morosely, finishing off her drink.

"Unless you're going to force her to have an abortion against her wishes or give up her child and watch you raise it as your own with her having no say just to protect your own reputation, you will be fine. Besides you're not that horrible of a person." Wilhelmina said with bitterness. Is that what the Senator did to her? Was she forced to pretend that R was her sister and when she was really her daughter? The man was ruthless. Monique could see this happening.

"I would never do that." She said in absolute horror. "First there are laws about that sort of thing. No matter what it has to be her decision. It would probably kill a part of me if she decided to have an abortion, but I won't stop her. I don't give a fuck about my reputation, and never have. People have been speaking badly about me since before I was even born. Supposedly, my existence ruined a perfectly happy marriage not the fact that my father was fucking the nanny. I'm not going to force Antonella into a decision that she doesn't want. Is that what happened to you? Were you force to pretend your daughter was your sister?" Just for a fraction of a second the Wilhelmina mass fell and Monique knew that her suspicions were correct.

"You'll be surprised what the child of a politician can be forced to do under certain circumstances." Wilhelmina said cryptically. That was the closest she would ever get to a confession. It seemed most prudent to change the subject.

"Thank you for tipping me and Brianna off to what Victoria is planning." Monique said quickly thanking Wilhelmina for actually being helpful. She assumed this would the safest grounds for conversation.

"As much as I despise Claire and can understand why somebody would want revenge on her, I hate being made a fool of for someone else's schemes. I just got her back for thinking she could make a fool of me." Wilhelmina said with a smirk. "I'll be back after the honeymoon for you to sign the papers. I doubt you feel up to signing anything right now."

"Not at all. We were only doing it today so we would not have to send the contracts to London. I would drink more but I have to deal with my mother and a very pregnant teenager very quickly. This is such a mess." She said finishing her drink.

"Pity." Wilhelmina said almost sincere. If you need someone to take care of the person who caused your little problem I may know of some very discreet individuals." She was pretty sure Wilhelmina just offered her the services of a hit man. She is not surprised because this is Wilhelmina Slater. All things considered, it was quite tempting. Although she should probably talk to Antonella before she decided on how to take care of the moron. Gio was going to kill somebody when he finds out.

* * *

"So you finally decided to grace me with your presence." Matt said from his hospital bed as soon as his aunt walked into the room. Other than Tyler and various mothers of half-siblings, he has mostly been without visitors during this ridiculous hospital stay. (He doesn't consider his therapist a visitor.) Even his so-called mother was too busy to actually see him. Hell even his father had his assistant sent flowers or maybe the assistant did that voluntarily.

"Things have been kind of insane. Between everyone finding out about who my daughter's other mother/biological father truly is and being there for everyone finding out exactly how sick Alexis really is I haven't had time to deal with all the other crisis going on." She said in an exhausted tone.

"You mean me fainting when I found out I had another half brother that no one told me about because my dad doesn't know how to use a condom properly? You think they would let me out of here by now. It was just stress." He said with annoyance. Seriously he doesn't understand why he was admitted to the hospital in the first place besides the fact that this place has a wing named after his father.

"I was thinking about the crisis caused because you don't know how to use a condom properly." She snapped back. "When you have lived in as many countries as you have and had as many bedroom partners, they don't take fainting as just a stress thing. Even if it was just stress, considering your colorful psychological history you would still be in the hospital, you would just be in a different section." His aunt said referring to his 10 years in therapy and a few hospital stays in the psych ward. Most of the hospital stays occurred when he pissed his mom off.

"I do know how to use a condom. I just don't know that much about birth control pills and unfortunately neither did Amanda. You were done in the exact same way, so don't say anything."

"I wasn't going to." His aunt snapped back.

"I also had no idea my mom was so insane and would react this badly to the situation." He defended.

"I went to France for a reason when I found out I was pregnant. Your mother is insane for reasons that god only knows. You do not need to deal with her right now. I especially do not need her to find out that her evil plan from 16 years ago didn't work as expected." He's pretty sure his aunt mumbled something about Tiffany being stupid enough to move back to NY but he wasn't sure because she slipped back into French.

"The best way to prevent that is to keep you here where you are surrounded by lots of doctors who will help keep you sane and your mother away. Besides with everything going on, I know that you have not made time to see your therapist even though lord knows you should." His mouth opened in complete shock at that.

"You had me committed?" Matt asked incredulously. He really should not expect anything less from his slightly deranged aunt.

"No. I just suggested that your team be very thorough and for you to see your favorite psychologist three times a day. Considering everything that has happened in the last six months, you need it." That was true even if he did not want to say that to anyone including his aunt.

"Now that I'm here and will be in New York for the foreseeable future they're going to release you into my capable hands." She actually had the audacity to smile at that.

"That makes it so much better." He said sarcastically rolling his eyes at his crazy aunt.

"I did what I had to. You cannot argue that you didn't need the break."

"I needed to be in DC with Amanda." He argued back.

"You needed time to figure a lot of things out. Amanda needed some time to herself and out of New York. Besides even your mother wouldn't be stupid enough to try and attack Amanda in a city like DC. Every location they were shooting at was covered with security guards and required you to go through a metal detector." Really shouldn't be surprised.

"You worry my mom is going to hurt Amanda." He said as more of a statement that a question because he was worried too.

"I'm worried about a lot of things. I'm sure Tiffany told you the real reason why she left." Contrary to what they thought, his father wasn't the one trying to make the Tiffany situation go away, it was his mother. Her solution was to push her down a flight of stairs or rather to pay someone else to do it. Why she actually tried to have somebody killed, Matt would never know the answer to that but he would die first before he would allow that to happen to Amanda. It was that moment that he realized that he really loves her regardless.

"I don't think she's quite ready to utilize that particular strategy again until she exhausted all other possibilities." Aunt Briana said casually as if it was the easiest thing in the world to say. "Amanda and the babies will probably be safe if her current scheme works. Let's just say you're lucky that Amanda slept with Daniel Meade the month before you got her pregnant."

"What do you mean by that?" Just as he spoke a piece of paper was thrown at him.

"You'll be amazed how easy it is to expedite a paternity test if you donate enough money to a good research cause." His aunt said as he cautiously picked up the paper with trepidation.

"You have no reason to be petrified. You are the father." She said with an expression that wasn't quite comforting.

"It wouldn't matter anyway. I love her." He said expressing the conclusion that he came to over the past few days. It's amazing what a few days in the hospital working with the therapist can accomplish.

"But it's a lot easier." His aunt said with a smirk knowing him a little too well. "Your mother's counting on the opposite being true."

"What are you talking about?" He asked as confused as ever.

"Last week your mom had a tennis date with Wilhelmina Slater and she just happened to pass the name of the lab that was willing to do a fake paternity test for her in addition to some other bits of information. Your mother wants the new Hartley heir to disappear and that's what she will get, with a little forgery. Tomorrow she's going to get a lot of happiness from telling Daniel that he is the father."

"I'm confused. Why would she do this? How do you know this? Also Wilhelmina Slater does nothing unless she gets ahead. She was the one who told mom about the doctor's appointment in the first place." Matt blurted out all at once.

"Marc is like a son to Wilhelmina and she won't hurt him. Hurting Amanda would hurt him. It's probably the only reason why she didn't use the existence of the twins against you." His aunt spoke as if she would understand things that he never would.

"I wondered about that." Matt said to his aunt.

"Love is a strange thing. It can make you do all sorts of things that you would never do otherwise. How far would you go to protect someone you love? Would you let her go, to keep her safe?" She asked him and he was not entirely sure how far he would go.

**To be continued**


	26. Murphy's Law

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I like to apologize for taking so long between chapters. Because I took so long, the original plot line of this chapter has been overtaken by events and I had to come up with a new plot device.

* * *

Chapter 24: Murphy's Law as it Applies to Weddings, Magazines, and Evil Plans.

Justin was running around his aunt's former room, trying to get his aunt ready for her official engagement breakfast at one of the best restaurants in town as the Suzuki St Pierre Wedding of the Summer Season Countdown special played on in the background. The wardrobe that his aunt came with was much more conducive to his creative needs than what she usually has (he is sure Daniel picked out everything). Unfortunately, she wasn't working with him. They were currently arguing about the necessity of a curling iron.

Really he wasn't that surprised that he was rushing around again or that she was fighting his efforts. Last night didn't go that well either, even if she was more cooperative. At least he had more time this morning. They did not need to be at the exclusive James Café until 10 and it was only eight now. Although, considering they did not arrive back at the house until 2AM it seemed too early. His mother is not going to be happy when she finds out that he used emotional blackmail to convince Daniel to let him go to the Mode after party even if it was just for an hour. They would've been backed by one but there was traffic.

He barely had time to get her ready for the MAMA awards after they returned from the disaster that was the rehearsal lunch/pre awards celebration. He was there as the official blogger for the wedding and Mode. The outfits were fabulous and the cuisine was exquisite at the party. So was the chaos. There was a lot to tweed about including Gio's ex girlfriend trying to throw various things at the limo. (He was riding with Monique so she could interrogate him about 'he who knocked up her future sister in law'. She was not happy.)

Monique punched out her father during the first 30 minutes. Then there was the argument that Monique got into with Marc when he showed up slightly late with Wilhelmina as his guest. Apparently, Wilhelmina was there as protection because Marc's slightly insane now ex boyfriend was out on bail and already making threatening phone calls. He sincerely regrets convincing Marc to get back together with Troy. In his defense, Justin had no idea that the man stalked Marc previously. That is the sort of thing you should tell your friends.

Unfortunately, he was not allowed to post anything related to the various altercations, especially anything involving Marc's crazy ex boyfriend. He did get to write about his conversation with fashion designer Briana West Hartley. He even got a preview of the flower girl outfit although she did ask him a lot of strange questions about his boyfriend. Then again, she also interrogated his boyfriend as they watched the rehearsal. Austin was invited there by Monique for reasons unknown.

The actual rehearsal contained other things that he could not talk about publicly including Amanda throwing up on stage and baby Lexis asking to go pee during the middle of it. There were also some more uncomfortable arguments between members of various families. From what he gathered, Alexis Meade was very sick and everyone in the family was mad at her for keeping it quiet. Everyone was also mad about Brianna West-Hartley keeping the existence of Alexis junior a secret. Internally, Justin was screaming about how in a roundabout way, through pending marriage and illegitimate children, he was sort of related to one of his favorite designers. His aunt was apparently close to Miss West-Hartley because they were always talking to each other about some planned to keep Amanda safe but he was not entirely sure of the details.

Because of all that, the rehearsal went an hour later than it should have, which meant that they did not have time to go back to Queens to get ready. However, this meant he had full run of the Mode closet. It was Christmas in July but a month early. He spent so much time making sure that his aunt was completely presentable that he barely had time to get ready himself. Although after she picked up her award for fashion article of the year she mentioned that he was her personal stylus which was all the thanks he needed. He was so happy that he got to go this year even if he was sort of working.

"I don't understand why you are spending so much time on my hair. Your mom is just going to change it for the wedding in two hours." His aunt's repeated complaint broke him out of his thoughts. Sometimes he wonders why he tries.

"Because we are going to your official engagement brunch since we don't have time to do a formal engagement party before you go back to London." Justin chided his aunt with hands on hips. "Don't you want to look good for all the pictures and video that we're going to be sending to the family in Mexico?" he smiled sweetly at that point.

"But it's just family. They don't care how I look." Aunt Betty said trying to push him away again.

"I personally think you are beautiful no matter what you wear or what you are not wearing." Daniel told his fiancée. Really he didn't need to know that last part. He wants to stay ignorant about that until he gets a baby cousin. The noises of last night were bad enough.

"Unfortunately, every reporter in this country and a few others are following us at the moment. Images from the bad Betty outfit website are already everywhere. Do you really want to add more?" Daniel asked.

"Do you want to sleep on the couch?" Betty replied quickly. She did not look happy about that comment.

"I'm sure grandpa will be happy about that." Justin joked to relieve the tension.

"Again, I personally think that you look good in anything and especially nothing." Daniel said leaning over to kiss Betty in a way was a little too much for him. If he kissed Austin like that in front of his mom, she would kill him. If they were alone, they probably would do that one thing they haven't done yet. After what happened to his friend, he wasn't sure if he was ready for sex even if he didn't have to worry about pregnancy. There were still STIs and he and Austin were only virgins by the "Bill Clinton definition". (That's how his mom put it when they had the 'talk'.)

"Please step away from my aunt before you mess up her hair again. I love that you two are together. It's adorable but I heard you guys this morning. There are some things I don't want to know and I'm sure neither does grandpa." Justin said smirking. Justin spent the night in his mom's old bedroom because DJ was in his and he didn't want to kick him out because he knew DJ was having a really hard time with everything going on with his other mother. Unfortunately, that room was much closer to where his aunt and Daniel were sleeping. He heard everything.

"Where is your father? More importantly where's my nephew." Daniel asked, turning to his aunt most likely not wanting to comment on what Justin said.

"DJ is still sleeping. He said he needs his strength for everything. I think dad is at work. He got some phone call about a problem at the restaurant and he left right away. He said he would meet us at the hotel." Betty said just as he tried to work on her hair again. "I give up. Justin, do whatever you want."

"Thank you. It will be a lot easier if you just cooperate." Justin said as he continued working.

"Sourdough girl strikes again." Daniel mumbled under breath. Justin knew that was one of the nicer names that Monique had for her boyfriend's former girlfriend. She called her there during the limo ride instead of yesterday along with several other expletives.

"You don't know that. Things go wrong in restaurants all the time. They could just be a coincidence." His aunt said, looking directly at her fiancé.

"I'm sure it's an accident that Mo's flowers ended up in Connecticut this morning." Daniel told her poignantly. When Justin went into the room to pick out his aunt's outfit, Daniel was screaming at the florists to just fix it. Afterwards, he was mumbling something about the merits of Vegas. If his aunt snuck off somewhere to get married without him Justin will kill her.

"What are you talking about?" Justin asked as he went back to his aunt's hair.

"Gio's insane former girlfriend and current business partner is sabotaging the wedding by any means necessary including telling sob stories to Gio's Cousins." Daniel then went onto retell all that the crazy one has done so far including trying to cancel the catering. He was most upset about the woman that did not even know his aunt spreading nasty rumors about her. Even though Justin and everyone else knew that Betty was in love with Daniel last year she would have never done anything to undermine his marriage to Molly. Actually, Justin is 100% sure she got back together with Matt because she thought it was too soon to make a move on Daniel.

"Antonella told me all about the crazy bi-person." He said, correcting himself because he knew that his aunt would not like him to use that word in that context. "She never liked her at all and was happy when Gio realized that he didn't love sourdough girl anymore. Monique tried to buy her out but she refuses to sell. She even resorted to throwing eggs at Monique yesterday."

"This is why I don't think the thing at your father's restaurant is just a coincidence. Considering that the culinary arts are her specialty, I could see her sabotaging the kitchen equipment or something along those lines just to ruin the reception. I am personally surprised that she didn't go that route with the bakery making the wedding cake." Justin already had his phone ready when Daniel took it out of his hands.

"You can't post about that." He chided.

"What's the point of having this job when you guys won't let me write anything good?" Justin said in annoyance. Details about the wedding going wrong would be fabulous.

"Your job is to make Mode looked good. This does not make your boss looked good and if she doesn't look good, Mode does not look good. If you're not mature enough for this responsibility yet, I'm sure Monique can find something else for you to do. There's always the receptionist job at the food magazine. I worked there for two summers in high school." Daniel said with a smiled that was completely terrifying.

"Do not even joke about that." Justin said with a shiver. "I know there are certain things I cannot write about. I'm not going to tell anybody about Antonella being pregnant or your sister's health problems. That stuff is personal. But the wedding is in the public domain anyway. Suzuki has done nothing but talk about it for the last 2 hours. Can I write about it anonymously on my own personal blog?" He asked slightly frustrated.

"This is personal too. Besides, there is no such thing as anonymous." Daniel said with a sigh.

Daniel was probably going to talk about that time Betty wrote an angry rant about him, and it went viral but he was interrupted by Aunt Betty pointing to the television screen where a dark haired woman was running around with a candle lighter, lighting everything but the candles. She looked familiar but he couldn't exactly remember where he saw her before. Suzuki look shocked for a moment before the tone of his voice changed completely and he started yelling for security.

"What does Gio's ex girlfriend look like?" Betty asked causing Justin to remember exactly where he saw the woman before. She was the woman throwing eggs at Monique before she was tackled by security. "I'm pretty sure that that's her trying to light the entire wedding hall on fire." Betty said in open mouth shock. The beautiful handcrafted silk that adorned the hall was already going up in smoke. It was a travesty of fashion.

"She was the angry girl that always screwed up your order. She doesn't like you that much either because you're also a fellow ex girlfriend. I think that's her. What is it with crazy girlfriends and fire?" Daniel said just as the girl was tackled by security. Unfortunately, this sent the lighter into a highly flammable piece of drapery. Just like that the venue for the wedding of the summer fashion season literally when up in flames. The only consolation was that the wedding dress was not there yet. It would be ruined by sprinklers now drenching the room.

* * *

Daniel has been dreading the first anniversary of Molly's death probably since it happened. Of course he wasn't expecting to also be worrying about a very sick sister but it just happened. He was hoping for a distraction but he didn't think it would be in the form of a crazy woman trying to ruin his friend's wedding. On the bright side, at least he would get out of a very dysfunctional family breakfast.

"There's no point for you to continue using your aunt as your personal Barbie." Daniel told his almost nephew who was having a little too much fun with getting his aunt ready for this crazy brunch that he was being forced to go to. The only positive thing out of this becoming their engagement brunch was now Betty's family would be there too. Unlike his family, her family was actually tolerable and non-homicidal. For example, he loved Justin. He should have started interning at Mode in diapers. He probably knew as much about fashion as Daniel did.

"I'm pretty sure brunch has just been canceled. The wedding was being held at the same hotel as the James cafe. As you can see, firefighters are now at the scene." Daniel said just as his phone started to buzz. "That's probably mom now."

"I don't think that's your mom's ring tone." Betty said with a frown.

"No, that is the ring tone I assigned to any of the official Meade publishing phone numbers including my mom's blackberry." Daniel said opening his phone without looking at the number.

"Hi mom." He answered quickly.

"I may be a mum, but I'm not your mother." The voice of his Senior Editor said.

"Sorry Sumreen. I thought you were my mother calling to cancel this ridiculous family brunch I am being forced to go to supposedly because of my engagement. The new EIC of Mode America just had her wedding venue torched by her fiancé's crazy ex girlfriend on national television at the hotel where the restaurant is. I'm hoping that she will cancel but that's asking for too much." He explained in a rush.

"I could understand not wanting to spend any time with certain family members, especially with a family like yours. I still can't believe your sister kept that from you for so long." Sumreen said sympathetically. She understood what he was going through. She had her own very ill father in Pakistan who adamantly refuses to come to the UK for treatment. "I'm not calling about that but I am going to provide you with an excuse not to go if it doesn't get canceled." She seems very nervous as she spoke.

"What happened?" He asked knowing and his heart that something was wrong.

"Diana just handed in her resignation because she got the editor job at a new non-fashion publication and Mr. Pratt just got his revenge on us. The offices are in shambles." She spat out in so much of a rush that Daniel was not entirely sure what she said.

"Diana quit?" Daniel asked because that was the most shocking and most detrimental. David wasn't that competent but Diane leaving would be bad even if she wasn't going to a competing magazine.

"She was going to wait until you got back but after Mr. Pratt took a cricket bat or possibly a sledgehammer to her desk, she just didn't want to deal with it any longer. Your office is even worse. A few others quit as well fortunately our art director William did not." Considering all the things that have been going on at Mode UK in the last six months, he couldn't blame her for quitting. He would want to quit to even if the creative director's job was dangling in front of him like a carrot. Thank god they had a competent art director.

"Yet, you're still here." He said quietly not knowing what to think.

"I have teenagers and a mortgage. Property prices are worse here than in New York. I expect premium compensation for dealing with this crisis while you are in New York posing for the cameras with your new fiancée." For one person to just quit and the other one to demand a bonus the situation must be worse than property damage.

"How bad is the damage for you to feel that you deserve premium compensation?"

"Did you know that Mr. Pratt has a cousin who apparently is a computer genius? Supposedly, he was able to create a smart virus that can destroy any file related to a certain subject. This cousin was in charge of IT at Meade Publications London until 24 hours ago." Sumreen explained. This did not sound good at all.

"How bad?" Daniel asked remembering the entire fiasco right after his father's death when Wilhelmina released a virus that completely decimated the entire system and the most recent issue of the magazine. There's no way it could be that bad this time around. First of all, Damien is no Wilhelmina Slater. Second, they took a lot of precautions after that including moving to cloud computing and keeping backups in multiple places. Of course, Daniel was not completely sure if the London office was on the new system.

"The good news is the computers are intact but we can't touch anything until they're decontaminated and IT can guarantee that there are no other surprises on the network. The virus was designed to get rid of any Mode related file on the entire network including the backup server. Of course the virus wasn't that smart and wiped a lot of files from some of the other magazines but fortunately most of the damage was confined to just us. Unfortunately, we go to print Monday and we don't have a magazine anymore. The tech people think that the virus was planted from inside because nobody found it, most likely by the cousin that just quit." Sumreen sounded furious at this point.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed because really there was only one word you can say at a time like this.

"Daniel what's going on?" Betty asked with concern.

"David's revenge and Diane just quit. Somehow he got a hold of a virus that wiped out everything Mode related from the network. The Next issue is gone." Daniel said repressing the urge to throw something.

"Doesn't the magazine go to the printer tomorrow?" Betty asked.

"Monday technically, but it's so early that you might as well say Sunday." Daniel said falling down on his girlfriend's old bed. Everything was going so good and then this happened. He should have known something bad was going to happen. "This is the last time I ever go on vacation or a business trip right before the magazine is supposed to go to the publisher."

"Put me on speaker, it will be faster for me to explain because unlike you I am not in shock anymore." He heard Sumreen tell him before he did what she told him. Sumreen went on to explain everything to Betty as Daniel fought the urge to cry. At some point, he had to remind Justin not to tweet anything about this. He almost had a moment of hope when Betty reminded him about their new practice of saving a near final draft of the magazine to memory stick and locked it in a safe.

"The pieces of the memory stick were scattered on your desk along with another unpleasant surprise. Tech may be able to salvage the magazine from the pieces but it's going to take time." Sumreen told the group in frustration.

"That we don't have." Mode UK could not handle the issue coming out late. They're already teetering at the edge due to recent events.

"Exactly which is why in the next 34 hours we are going to recreate the magazine from scratch. I've called in everybody that doesn't have a religious objection about working on the weekend. Will, Kathleen from Features, and Victoria from graphics are already here working and they've called in as many underlings as possible. Unfortunately no one from the style department is willing and/or able to come in. Two members of that team quit. Also working in our favor, is that I have a nasty habit of saving all the articles I edit on my home computer." That was one of the few pieces of good news. Also unlike the Wilhelmina catastrophe years ago, a good portion of the staff would not be tempted to go to a computing magazine.

"You should also be able to get everything from the freelancers." Betty added.

"Unfortunately there were not many freelance articles in the latest issue. We're still missing a lot of stuff but we're working on it. We're currently taking over the British cuisine offices because they are the only magazine that's clean." Sumreen explain.

"Of course Mr. Pratt would hate to destroy his favorite magazine. Chances are Monique's wedding has been canceled or postponed therefore I have lots of free time. I think I save some of the drafts on my laptop. I could head back." He would not let this magazine fall apart. He wasn't going to fail his first time on his own.

"I am not going to say no to your help because we need it. However I think you will be more efficient if you work from the American offices. At least we know those computers are working properly." Sumreen suggested.

"Good point." He said knowing that she was right. He would lose valuable time by flying back.

"I can be there in 45 minutes and I will see if I can get some help from the international style editor here in the U.S. I'll call you later." He said ending the call.

"We need to head to the mode offices. Can you please get my laptop?" He asked his girlfriend.

"Sure. Anything else I can help you with?" Betty asked. Part of him would love for her to help him like she always did but he took the job in London to prove that he could do this without Wilhelmina, his sister, his mother, or even Betty coming to save him. This was all on him and Sumreen. If they pull this off, he was going to make Sumreen CO-EIC.

"Since you work for the competition, you can't. I have to do this on my own. Besides, I think we're in better shape than last time. At least we know that the computers here are virus free. Also, last time nobody had the good sense to save their rough drafts to an alternate location."

"They say it's always easier the second time around. I can call Becks to get copies of what he had for you guys before I became his boss." Betty already had her cell phone out as she walked up the stairs. "But first I'm going to call a cab."

"This is why I love you." Daniel said smiling.

"Are you sure I can't tweet about this?" Justin asked.

"No, Mr. Pratt destroying the UK offices and computers cannot be public knowledge, especially before I tell Monique about it." He was starting to think it was a bad idea to put a 16 year old in charge of the Twitter feed. Although, unlike Amanda at least he asks if he has a question about if something should go public.

"I met you and Betty. It's adorable." He said smiling.

"Maybe later, although since you enjoy writing so much, you're going to help me. How much do you know about the British fashion scene?"

"A lot, who do you think tutored Aunt Betty before she went to London fashion week last spring?" Justin said smugly. Daniel remembered how good her articles were from that.

"We may pull this off." Daniel said to himself taking a deep breath. To think this morning when he woke up he was worried about spending the entire day dwelling on Molly's death. Thanks to a certain Pratt and Gio's crazy ex girlfriend he had other things to worry about.

* * *

After working with Monique Osborn for more years than she cares to remember she does not remember ever seeing the woman cry except for exactly one year ago today when her best friend died. (She found out via a rumor mill massed e-mail). So really it doesn't surprise Candy at all that instead of crying over the fact that the venue for her perfect wedding is no longer usable, she is being held back by Marc to keep her from attacking the one responsible. Candy is 100% sure there's going to be a picture somewhere of the angry fashion editor dressed in only a cream color slip and Marc's suit jacket trying to attack she who will not be named as the looney was dragged off by the police. Why didn't she stay in London? She could be having a nice weekend avoiding a certain guy she shouldn't have slept with as she continued her search for decent London pizza and/or curry. Instead, she flew back for the most insane wedding of all time that will now probably never happen. Dealing with the Becks problem may be preferable.

"It's not going to do any good if you spend your wedding day in lock up." Marc remarked as he tried to calm Monique down. His years as Wilhelmina Slater's guard dog were coming in handy. Monique only looked ready to mien at this point.

"No, but I will feel better when I stab her ice cold heart with my stiletto." She screamed at no one in particular. "What did I do that gives her the right to completely ruin my wedding?"

"You stole her boyfriend." Antonella said flippantly as she slowly drank her ginger ale. Amanda was kind enough to share her pregnancy stash with the teenager.

All things considered the almost 16 year old was handling the pregnancy thing better than Candy thought she would. She only cried for 30 minutes when the doctor confirmed it before they arrived at Mode to break the bad news. She only stopped when Candy offered to go with her to break the news to he who will not be named later that night. Antonella threw her cellphone at the idiot responsible for this mess after he told her he didn't give a fuck that she was pregnant and threw money at her to "get it taken care of'". Again that was better than what she would have done. He would not have a dick now. On the cab ride back to Manhattan, Candy heard the whole story of how this happen. Said boyfriend convinced the teenage girl that if she really loved him she would take their relationship "forward" before she moved to London. He also told her that they were not doing anything that would get her pregnant. Unfortunately, the then 15 year old didn't know that penetration is not necessary for pregnancy. The sperm just needs to be in that general area.

At the pre wedding slumber party Antonella and Monique came to some sort of agreement about the pregnancy. She's going to have the baby but beyond that no one is sure what's going to happen next. Although she did see the adoption pamphlets resurface on Monique's coffee table. They were last spotted in March when Amanda was making the same decision. However, there's a big difference between this happening at age 27 than 16.

"This isn't the time for you to make smart comments. I still have to break the news to Gio that he may be an uncle in eight months, I am anything but happy about that. God I still have no idea how I'm going to tell your brother. Although, I'm sure he'll feel better about the fact that you got pregnant without penetration. I only believe you because we did an article in Player about that two years ago." Candy was pretty sure somebody mumbled something about putting the article in the teen magazine.

"Antonella, it is in your best interest for me to stay calm and not freak out in front of two million cameras. I hope none of them have microphones. Your brother finding out from Suzuki will not be good for anyone." Monique said shaking. She was definitely furious.

"May I suggest a blow job? Bad news is always better during sex." Amanda suggested and Marc just groaned.

"Again, I hope no one can hear this conversation." Monique mumbled under breath. "Sexual acts should never be used to break bad news caused by sex but if I'm desperate enough I may use it on the honeymoon. However, if we don't come up with some way to still have this wedding there will not be a honeymoon. There is no way in hell I will let that evil woman ruin my big day." Monique shouted at Marc, with resulted in him giving her one of Amanda's emergency chocolate bars.

"There 's always Vegas." Candy suggested. "I'm sure I can get everyone that you actually want to have your wedding on a plane within the next 3 hours.

"That would be so much easier but if I don't want the Meade publications takeover to fall apart it's not an option." Monique said as she crinkled her brow in frustration. She was on the verge of cracking up. Why couldn't Brianna be here for this?

"As much as I enjoy having this conversation in 90° heat with every single camera in the city watching us I suggest we move this conversation somewhere with air conditioning and hair styling products." Marc suggested in candy agreed wholeheartedly. The extreme heat was doing horrible things to her hair.

"We are only a couple of blocks from the Mode offices. It's closer than your apartment and I know you keep a change of clothes there for emergencies and this is an emergency." Candy said pulling her phone out to call for a town car. She doubted certain members of the group, like cousin Tamika, wanted to walk in bunny slippers.

"Fine, do you think we can find everything I need for the perfect wedding there too?" Monique asked with pure sarcasm.

"I know you're being facetious but if I remember correctly, Craft Monthly is doing their annual do it yourself wedding issue. If the rumor mill is to be believed, studio three currently looks like the tackiest wedding ever from yesterday shoot. They haven't had time to break it down yet. We might be able to salvage something." Marc suggested off handily.

"Are you suggesting that we have my wedding on sound stage three?" Monique asked rubbing her forehead, an obvious sign that she had a headache. Just as Candy started looking for something with acetaminophen in it, Tamika already passed a bottle of pills to her cousin.

"That would be absurd. We could use the props for the executive banquet room on the penthouse level if we can get rid of the tackiness." Marc said with a snicker.

"It's not big enough for both and we don't have the resources or time to break everything down between the wedding and reception." Monique said after swallowing the pills dry.

"You can have the ceremony on the roof. You did want an outdoor wedding but your mother said you couldn't." Tamika reminded her.

"Remind me to never listen to my mother again. Okay we have five and half hours to pull off the wedding of this summer season. We're gonna need all the help possible." Monique told the group.

"I'm working on it." Marc said with new iPad in hand.

"Amanda, contact Sherry my wedding planner and tell her to meet me at Mode as soon as she is done with the police. Also call all the vendors and see if they can drop off everything at the Mode offices instead." Monique said already going into leadership mode. The skills that made her the youngest EIC in Mode history were very visible.

"Got it." Amanda said grabbing her phone out of her baby preparedness bag.

"Marc, get a hold of Terry from Craft Monthly to see if we can borrow what we need. Also, can I please steel your assistant for the next 5 hours and 25 minutes?" Monique asked.

"Tamika is your cousin. Family is needed at times like this." Marc said looking sad for a moment. "You don't need to ask permission. It is your damn company or will be as soon as the papers go through. We work for you. We have no choice but to be okay with it."

"I found it easier to work with people if they don't all hate you." Monique said with another smile.

"That's very true. That's why I'm not that upset about leaving the department." Tamika said affirming her cousin.

"Dear cousin, call the family and let them know about the new location and see if any will be willing to help with the setup. Don't call anybody Gio's signed because they all think I'm a whore." The bitterness was easily heard in her words.

"Got it. Mom should be willing. She would do anything for family and she's good with the glue gun. So is your biological mom for that matter. She is here."

"That's good because mommy Windom-West doesn't like to lift anything heavier than a martini glass. Antonella please tell the same thing to the family members that haven't been poisoned against me on your side. They're more likely to believe you. Also are any of your friends good with a glue gun?" Monique asked.

"Justin is the only friend I have that is still speaking to me and they don't even know about this." She said pointing to her stomach. "Everyone already hates me because I'm moving to Manhattan." Monique quickly put her arm around her and whispered something to her that no one else could hear.

"You only need one real friend." He said pointing to Amanda. "Fortunately for you, Justin is very good with the glue gun and color coordination. I've already sent him an email." Marc said quickly. "Also Terry said that she would be happy to help with the current plan. She will meet us in the studio in 30 minutes." Marc said looking up from his iPad just as the limo arrived. I'm currently emailing anyone I know that can help."

"How did you do that so fast?" Tamika asked in absolute surprise.

"That's a trade secret of a former assistant of Wilhelmina Slater. Because you are my new assistant I may share." Marc said smirking as they walked to the car.

"That's one less thing to worry about." Monique said just as her phone rang. It was heard Daniel's ring tone.

"Thank god you called." Monique said as she slid into the back of the limo. Everyone else quickly followed in behind her. "The wedding is still on we are just moving everything to the Mode offices. I will explain when you get there. How crafty is your girlfriend?" Monique asked not letting Daniel speak until she was ready. She became silent for a while before exploding once Daniel was able to talk.

"What the fuck do you mean the UK issue is lost?" Thankfully Marc just closed the door to the soundproof vehicle before the explosion. That was not something that should go public. Considering she had three emergency text messages from Sumreen, she knew the situation must be serious. "Let me put you on speaker phone now that we're in the car so that everyone can hear."

"What's going on Daniel?" Candy asked. That's when Daniel explained about Mr. Pratt's revenge involving a computer virus and a cricket bat. If she ever saw that bastard again she was going to kill him. She calmed down as Daniel explained a plan to recreate the magazine.

"I know she is your bridesmaid but I really need Candy right now. Betty said she would help you with the wedding stuff." He offered.

"The magazine is more important than how cute my wedding is. The only reason why I agreed to have this spectacle of a wedding was to help the magazine. You have full run of the U.S. Mode offices and I will try to get you some help for my people." Monique said with a sigh.

"Thank you." Daniel said gratefully.

"Candy when we get upstairs call Gina from graphics and see if she's willing to come in today for double overtime and an extra day off for the winter holiday of her choice. Also look in my contacts for Natalia Winters cell phone number." Monique told her as they got out of the car in the parking garage of the Mode offices. Thankfully for her she still had a copy of all Monique's contacts saved on her blackberry. "Considering Diana quit and Mode UK no longer has an acting creative director, you really do need to fill the position quickly. I will talk to her about the option and send her over."

"Got it, I am sending her a text message now about the new location for the wedding and to see if she can meet you here to help." She said not even looking up from her phone

"You are brilliant." Daniel said in praise.

"I know." She said smirking as she started walking to the elevator.

"I need one more thing from you. As much as I don't want you to have an excuse to call him, I need you to call Becks to see if he can e-mail us his proofs. Betty tried but he didn't pick up. They don't like each other very well." Daniel said hesitantly.

"Why do you think he will pick up for me?" She asked not wanting to call the guy. She has been dodging his phone calls ever since she did that stupid thing.

"Because he never ignores someone that he wants to have sex with again."

"What do you mean again?" Monique said in open mouth shock. Why does she have a feeling that Mo knew about the reputation of the person that Daniel was talking about. Let's just hope it wasn't in the Biblical sense. I have to go." She said quickly ending the call before she threw the phone back at Monique. She then proceeded to run to the elevator, the doors closed in right in front of her friend. Candy only hoped that Monique would be too distracted by the wedding to ask questions. She already had another disaster to worry about.

To be continued.


	27. It's a Nice day to Start Again 1

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Yes, I know things are unbelievably chaotic but this is Ugly Betty. It wouldn't be Ugly Betty without chaos and complete drama.

Factoid moment:

Amanda's due date is October 7

Antonella's baby is due January 6

If they make it to full term, only I know.

To stave off confusion let me say that the only people who know the true paternity of Amanda's baby are Mrs. Hartley, Briana, Matt, Monique, Wilhelmina, Claire, Daniel, and Betty. Even Amanda is going to be kept in the dark for her own safety. Others may be allowed into the conspiracy as things progress.

The title of this chapter comes from the Billy idol song white wedding.

**It's a Nice day to Start Again: part one**

* * *

**Sunday, June 13 2010**

The day before was a complete blurred to Marc. He knows that he married his boss to her deli boy at some point during the day but the rest was kind of loss until he ended up crashing on the couch of his ex boyfriend's apartment. He ended up at Cliff's apartment after Troy tried to crash the wedding. He was probably carried off the premises by Monique's former temporary assistant and Marc's new personal bodyguard before anything could happen. He was not even there at the time because he was escorting a very sick Amanda to a town car in the parking garage. Actually, Marc believes she was not really that sick but just too upset to stay after some big fight she had with Matt. He offered to go with her but Monique and Betty took her home instead. Betty said she wanted to spend some time with her friend before she returned to London.

When he got back upstairs, Wilhelmina and Monique teamed up to basically ban him from staying in his own apartment. Marc was so stunned that they agreed on something that he was too much shocked to argue that he would be ok on his own. He only agreed to not stay in his apartment the night before because Amanda was participating in the pre wedding sleepover and Wilhelmina didn't want to be alone with her 'sister'. He knew the true story now. He wasn't sure why the crazy woman was back in Wilhelmina's life but he was sure it wasn't good.

Unfortunately, Wilhelmina and Monique could not decide on where he should go. Really, he was expecting the two to get in a fight before the wedding but the two seem to have some sort of uneasy truce. Thankfully Cliff stepped in and volunteered his couch. Monique and Wilhelmina instantly stopped arguing and smirked at each other. He almost wondered if they had that planned. They were the two most manipulative women he has ever met. Let's just say they make him very happy to be a gay man. Of course, with all the wedding festivities he actually did not make it to Cliff's house until around 3:00 AM where he promptly passed out on the couch.

If he said he was perfectly OK with sleeping on the couch he would be lying to himself but he really wanted this friendship. Over the last week and 1/2 Marc has realized how much he has missed being around the man. He even missed watching those crazy black and white films and having a quiet night in. He didn't want to mess this up by falling back into old patterns. Besides, after the Troy fiasco Marc is starting to think that he's a little too fucked up for a real relationship. He has too many issues. Maybe he needs to work on himself first. He is so going to have to talk to Amanda about this as soon as she's not throwing up or crying over the disaster that is Matt.

That wouldn't be right now. Marc was only going to be at his apartment long enough to change and pick up a few things for his prolonged stay at Cliff's apartment. He was worried about Amanda staying at the apartment alone but Monique assured him that wouldn't be a problem. Mrs. Meade offered her house if there was any trouble, since she was carrying her grand babies.

The apartment seems unbelievably quiet. Actually it looked completely undisturbed as if nobody has been there for days. There were not any cookies or ice cream containers on the table. Instead, there was just the letter with his name on it. Due to the pink envelope and use of purple sparkly pen he knew it was from Amanda.

Marc quickly opened the envelope only to fall down in the nearest chair. He couldn't believe the words and sighed. He couldn't believe what he just read. He doesn't believe it instead he runs into Amanda's room. At first nothing appeared to be gone except for the baby teddy bear that Daniel got her last spring after the first ultrasound. Then he noticed that all the comfortable pregnancy shoes were gone. Marc quickly opened her closet only to see that her suitcase and maternity clothing were missing.

"You won't believe I found a parking space within two blocks. I thought I should come on upstairs since you've been here awhile." Cliff called out but Marc didn't reply. He couldn't. How could she do this to him?

"Troy didn't leave you any nasty surprises did he?" He could not respond, instead he just passes the note wordlessly to Cliff. Of course, instead of reading the thing to himself, Cliff read it out loud:

_Dear Marc:_

_I know you're going to hate me forever but I just can't take living next door to the first guy I ever really loved especially now that I'm sure he never loved me. I just need to get away for a while. If I want to make it to October, I can't be around anything that will stress me out including Matt. I just can't be there. _

_I love you and I'll be back with your well dressed god babies in tow as soon as I can. I will write you again when I know where I will be. Right now I just can't say but at least I have the money from my biological mother now. It will be okay. I wish I could take you with me but you have your own life._

_Love Mandy._

After that Cliff goes silent and then starts to giggle. This finely awakens Marc out of his mental stupor.

"My best friend just left because that bastard broke her heart because Daniel Meade has super sperm and you're laughing?" He asked incredulously with a look he got from Wilhelmina.

"I'm not laughing about that but Amanda's postscript. It says 'PS: Don't fuck it up with Cliff this time. We need a new chunky one.' I absolutely love her except I am not that chunky." He frowned at the last part.

"She would say something like that and you're not chunky you just dress wrong for your body type. She's been spending too much time around my boss." Marc said shaking his head. "How could she leave me?"

"Because no matter how much she loves you, she's always going to love her children more. We both know this is a high risk pregnancy and the events of the last few days have not helped. This may be for the best." Cliff said pulling an arm around him. He wanted to cry. How could she leave him? How could she not know that he would choose her? This is all Matt's fucking fault.

* * *

**24 Hours Earlier**

Betty was worried. Even though she really liked Daniel's friend Monique and wanted her to have a good wedding she had other things to worry about. Daniel was her number one concern. Actually, it has been that way longer than she cares to admit to herself. She was already worried because today was the one-year anniversary of Molly's death. This day was hard on her and she only considered the woman a friend. She can imagine how much harder this was going to be for Daniel. The fact that he found out that their marriage wasn't legal has yet to be addressed. They have barely had time to discuss that between everyone finding out about the engagement and the Award banquet last night. Because she actually won they celebrated. Also it wasn't like she could bring it up when Justin or DJ was in the town car. It was too private.

Now that the wedding and the magazine were falling apart, she doubted they would find time today. He has not even watched the video message that Molly left behind for him. He keeps finding different reasons not to watch it. Despite how hectic things were, if he really wanted to see her final message he would have by now.

She herself was not sure how she felt about the entire thing. If Molly knew that Daniel was in love with her, why did she go through with the ceremony anyway? Why did she get back together with Daniel after the breakup? Why did she ask her best friend to play matchmaker? Betty had too many questions that will never be answered. Molly was dead and she doubted that video file had the answers to anything of concern to her. The best she could hope for was that Daniel would get some sort of closure.

There were more pressing things to worry about like how to make the executive dining room/meeting room look like a grand ballroom. Right now, it was just her and Brianna. Her father had called every single wait staff member he could think of that wasn't working to help with the setup of the buffet but most wouldn't be here for another hour. Everyone else was either in the kitchen trying to salvage the dinner or upstairs trying to make the roof presentable for the greatest wedding of the fashion season.

Actually, a lot of people were down in the Mode offices trying to salvage Daniel's first issue of Mode UK. That's where Amanda and Justin were now along with half of features. That's where she should be but she can't because her boyfriend is just being stubborn. As much as she wanted to help Daniel told her not to. She didn't completely accept his reasons for her not helping. She knew Daniel and there had to be another reason.

"So do you think we should go with the white tablecloths that my daughter will most likely try to color on 10 minutes into the boring speeches or that god awful pink disaster?" Brianna asked holding the two choices with disdain. This broke her out of her thoughts of Daniel.

"You're asking me a fashion related question?" Betty asked in shock.

"You did work at a fashion magazine for four years and you seem to have your own sense of style. I like the way your house is decorated." Brianna said in a tone that seemed to be sincere.

"The house was mostly decorated by Daniel except from my office. Also, my nephew proof read most of my fashion related articles and Daniel packed my suitcase. Supposedly, there was an entire web site devoted to my bad fashion choices. Justin is the one you want to ask those types of questions to. I'm just here to help you." She said as she continued to assemble the centerpiece according to Marc's extremely annoying instructions.

"Unfortunately, Justin is downstairs helping Daniel that leaves me with just you." Brianna said smiling. Alexis'_friend_ had a very interesting sense of humor sometimes.

"I know." Betty said as she went back to wishing she was somewhere else. Normally she liked doing crafty things but not today.

"You're not happy about that?" She asked poignantly. Betty has discovered over the last few days that the woman is very good at reading people and she was also very thankful that she never met his aunt while she was dating Matt. She probably would have picked up on the Daniel denial before anyone else would have.

"I am his fiancée. I'm supposed to help him through this sort of thing." She knew she was talking about more than just the magazine. She wanted to talk about the whole Molly thing he was avoiding her on that front. Actually she found that more annoying than him leaving her out of helping him with the magazine.

"Are we still talking about the magazine?" Brianna asked.

"Of course, what else would I be talking about?" Brianna looked like she was going to say something but thought better of it.

"Betty, I have known Daniel for a really long time and he's always been in someone else's shadow whether it be his father, Alexis, or even Wilhelmina. I think he just wants to prove that he got his job in London for another reason other than his last name is Meade." Briana explained.

"I don't think that." She said in her defense.

"But lots of people do. I know a lot of people saw me that way. Why do you think I used my mother's maiden name in the beginning?" She asked.

"It sounded better." She replied with a shrug.

"Not entirely. I want to prove myself on my own merits. Daniel probably just wants to do the same." Betty didn't completely accept that explanation.

"Maybe you're right." She replied with a shrug as she went on to put another centerpiece together.

"Now on to more important things, please just pick a tablecloth?" Briana demanded as she held up the two choices again.

"Just go with the white." She said quickly.

"Good choice. It goes good with the flowers. See you're not completely hopeless." Briana said with a genuine smile.

"Again there's an entire web site devoted to my bad wardrobe choices." Betty said as she placed one of the centerpiece is on the table.

"I've seen the web site. I got all sorts of good ideas from it. Your personal style was not bad, it was just different and it was enough to get you noticed by other people. That's the whole point of this. Fashion is personal expression. The only thing that matters is if you like what you're wearing." Considering all the fashion designers that she has spoken to over the years she was shocked. No one ever said something like that before.

"Okay, now I know why you and Wilhelmina despise each other." Betty said as she went back to putting together another centerpiece. Hopefully she would be done with these crazy things in the next 15 minutes. Maybe she could go downstairs to see if Daniel has changed his mind about her helping.

"I don't hate Wilhelmina that much. I think she still has a soul somewhere. She did help us for the sake of Marc. Granted she had her own non altruistic reasons but you can't expect the ice queen to change overnight." Bianca said with a shrug.

"That's true. Wilhelmina was the one who told us that Mrs. Hartley was planning to make Daniel the father of Amanda's baby as some sort of sick revenge on Claire and possibly me not that I understand why. Of course, she had no idea that Claire actually was already going to be the twins' grandmother no matter what." Betty didn't mention why she really didn't see Amanda having Daniel's child is such a bad thing anymore.

"I hated Faye Somers for personal reasons. She said some things to Alexis that I'm never going to forgive her for. She also tried to sleep with my father when he was with my mother. Thankfully, being a bitch is not genetic and Amanda seems to be a good person. It's like conclusive proof of nurture vs. nature. That's why I agreed to your plan." Brianna said as she placed another tablecloth down.

"I knew we had to do something when you told me about..." Betty was about to say something about being told about how Matt's mother tried to eliminate the last mistress after she got pregnant by her former spouse. However before she could say anything a hand was placed over her mouth.

"We're going to have to work on you being sneaky. Who knows who's listening right now? The first rule of being devious is to not reveal your plan. That's why most super villains fail miserably in the movies." She nodded and Bianca removed your hand. "You're a good friend. I don't think I would agree to have my boyfriend pretend to be the father of my best friend's child just to keep her safe. You're a better woman than me." She came up with the idea after a long conversation earlier this week with her father. She can help raise Amanda's child. That's what friends do.

"She's my best friend. If it wasn't for her, I would still be running away from my own feelings. I have to help her especially considering the fact that she only slept with Daniel for me." This whole mess happened because she was afraid of being with Daniel. If she never tried to use Matt as a Daniel substitute, Amanda would have never slept with him again. Of course, the birth control thing still could have happened. Which meant Victoria Hartley would still want Amanda dead and her plan to pass the baby office someone else's would not work. Then Amanda really would be in trouble.

"You two have a strange definition of friendship but then again I'm friends with my ex boyfriend who cheated on me and the father of my daughter who is now her other mother who abandoned me during my pregnancy by faking her death so she could go through gender reassignment surgery because her father was a bastard who listened to his evil girlfriend a little too much. I even disappeared for a few weeks so I could go doctor shopping with her. I can't say anything." She really wants to ask about that again. Anything related to what happened with Alexis during her disappearing act was not discussed. Actually, Alexis being sick was another thing that was being avoided. She and Daniel were very good at avoiding the unpleasant.

"Is everything ready?" Betty asked knowing that the other subject was off limits. She has lots of questions but it would not be polite to ask any of them.

"Yes. Don't worry about it. I even fixed the financial situation. Amanda now has an independent income coming in even after she stops working." She said confidently as she kept placing tablecloths on tables around the dining room. Again, maybe she was trying to make sure nobody else was listening in on this conversation

"I thought she wouldn't take any money from you or anyone else?" Betty asked in confusion. "Daniel was only able to get her a new maternity wardrobe because he lied to her and said they were from the closet." Betty explained. Before she really spent time with her she was kind of under the impression Amanda was a bit of a gold digger. That changed after Amanda spent three months wearing that horrible yellow hat to pay back the money lost during the missing rent fiasco. (She also switched to paying rent direct deposit instead of by money order which required her to carry too much cash.)

"It's good to have a plan B. Even though I absolutely despise the woman, Faye set up a little trust fund for Amanda. She disguised it as the dog care fund but according to Amanda's adopted father the money was always intended for her." Betty let go of a breath she did not know she was holding at that moment.

"That makes sense. I didn't think anybody loved their Dog that much." She was happy that Amanda at least had some proof now that her biological mother actually loved her. "But how does that help us? The fund barely can cover rent and food in New York even with her roommate." Of course knowing Marc, he would probably take over paying rent. He can afford it now with the new job.

"That's why the fund just got a large cash infusion." Brianna said smugly.

"What? Why? How?" Those were the only thing she could say.

"Because Amanda does not want to be a gold digger as you stated earlier. However, if she thinks it's coming from Faye you know that she will take it no questions asked. She needs the money. Any court in the country would probably give her double in child support if she could ask for it. According to Claire, her doctor wants to put her on total bed rest even if we didn't have to put our plan into motion. We have to get her away from Victoria before she does something else. We don't have time to convince her that she deserves the money. I know my former sister in law and yes she's going to confront Amanda soon. We need to be prepared." Brianna said sadly.

"Let's just hope it's not with the gun." Betty said worriedly.

"Victoria doesn't like to break her nails. It's going to be okay." Brianna tried to sound reassuring but it didn't work.

"Does Matt know?" She asked. She hasn't had time to speak with him other than a quick conversation yesterday where he congratulated her on her engagement and winning an award for writing. She should have at least told him about the engagement but she didn't have time. At least he handled it better than some. She actually had to un-friend Henry after all the frantic messages he sent her via Facebook.

"Matt knows that he's a father and he knows what his mother has planned. He's willing to stay quiet if it means keeping Amanda and the babies safe." She said cryptically.

"And the rest?" Before Brianna could answer, a very energetic five-year-old burst into the room with Claire and DJ behind her.

"Aunt bitchtoria is here." Little Alexis said butchering her aunt's name.

"Aren't you after your grandmother's heart?" Claire said smiling at her granddaughter before continuing. "Accurate mispronunciation aside, security has just alerted me that Victoria is in the building and heading to the Mode offices downstairs."

"Where is Amanda?" Brianna asked with worry.

"Monique's office, I saw her there when I was trying to offer Daniel help with the London issue." Betty just nodded in agreement with her future mother in law.

"At least, it's not the roof. This looks like Showtime. Come on baby, Victoria is less likely to try to kill someone when you are around." Brianna said grabbing her daughter. "I don't know why but she actually likes baby Lexis now. Actually, DJ you better come to. If things go wrong get your sister and her baby Cousins out of there." She instructed DJ who just nodded following behind.

"I assume we're going with the white tablecloths." Claire said as she continued were Monique left off.

"She said that goes with the flowers, although we're probably going to have to take baby Alexis' magic markers away." Betty said as she started placing some of the finished centerpiece is a around the room. "Daniel said you couldn't help either?" She asked after a few minutes.

"I already took her markers after my only granddaughter, so far, used them on my hundred thousand dollar desk. That's why we went to see Daniel." Clara said with a frown. She was tempted to laugh.

"He wouldn't let you be there." Betty said this as more of a statement then a question.

"He wanted to prove he could do this on his own. He has a good team." her words echoed Briana's from earlier.

"I know. That doesn't mean I'm not worried." Betty said as she went to grab another centerpiece.

"You wouldn't be wearing that ring right now if you didn't worry about him." She said pointing to the ring. It was very different from the one that Molly had that once belonged to Claire but it fit Betty perfectly.

"Are you still upset we didn't tell you right away?"

"No. It wasn't as if you waited days and we are all aware Amanda cannot keep a secret. Although, I hope you will still have the wedding in New York even if your father moves to Los Angeles." Claire said as she finished up the tables and started helping with the centerpieces.

"What?" Betty asked in surprise. This is the first time she's heard anything about this.

"He didn't tell you?" Her future mother in law asked as her face fell.

"Tell me what?"

"He was offered the executive chef job at the new restaurant in Los Angeles although he wasn't sure if he was going." This was the first time she was hearing about this at all.

"How do you know?" How could Mrs. Meade know something that she doesn't know about her own father?

"I am a friend of your father and he wanted a second opinion. We talked last week when he brought over food for Amanda. His food is one of the few things that doesn't make her baby-sick." She explained.

"Oh," was the only thing Betty said as she went back to mechanically putting the centerpiece is together.

* * *

Despite being in the middle of catastrophe things are going surprising well. First, David's cousin wasn't that smart. Although his virus managed to take out an article about the best maternity wear for the parenting magazine, it felt to delete any of the restaurant reviews or hotel reviews in the latest issue of Mode UK. Actually, anything non fashion related was left intact. Therefore they had 30% of the magazine plus the advertising to work with. That was better than last time, confirming in Daniel's mind that David was definitely no Wilhelmina Slater.

The devil herself was upstairs helping to prepare the roof for the wedding or maybe she was there to laugh at everything, Daniel wasn't sure. Wilhelmina actually offered to help Daniel put the magazine together but he said no because he needed to do this on his own. Then again he wasn't entirely sure if her offer was actually genuine. Maybe she just wanted to ridicule him. Actually, he was starting to wonder if she was still taking the good pain pills because drugs could only explain her weird behavior. They managed to make peace at the MAMA reception the night before. He let her do the acceptance speech since they won for the swimsuit issue. She even apologized for her sister's behavior and promised to keep her away. So obviously Wilhelmina has to be stoned or having some sort of midlife crisis/nervous breakdown.

Then maybe she was in a good mood because of her post wedding conjugal visit. He thought that she was crazy for marrying a guy who is going to be in jail for a very long time but then again most people thought he was crazy for marrying a woman who was dead before there two month anniversary. He didn't exactly have room to talk. Then again in his case the wedding wasn't real, so maybe it's not the same thing.

At least Wilhelmina wasn't offended by him rejecting her offer of help but his girlfriend wasn't happy even if she was currently off with Brianna setting up tables for what will probably be the most dysfunctional reception of all time. He would try to smooth things over with Betty but just didn't have time right now. He would get her something from Tiffany's after everything was calm again. Maybe he should just bring her to her favorite French Fries place later on. The one thing he knows about his girlfriend is she probably would rather have cheese covered French Fries as an apology present then the usual diamond necklace he got everyone. She probably saw more meaning in the cheese fries.

The second thing going for him in this disaster was he had a good staff. He already knew that he was making Sumreen Co-EIC when he arrived back in London Monday. Anyone else would have been freaking out by this point but she was thriving under the pressure. She seemed in absolute control and knew exactly what she was doing. By the time he actually made it to the Mode offices she already had a complete game plan together to put the magazine back together again. At the current rate, they will have the magazine back together well before publication.

Despite being not quite 16 yet Justin was a genius when it came to fashion and style. He already had a rough draft of an article written by the time they got to Mode. It's amazing what a 15-year-old can do with the iPhone under the correct motivation. He was so talking to Monique about Justin doing September Fashion Week this year. Maybe he can be the correspondent covering it for mode UK. He knew more about the London fashion seemed then Daniel did at the moment. Justin was currently working with the international fashion editor to re-create the What's Hot, What's Not for the issue. Is it wrong for him to hope that his future children get Justin's fashion sense?

After helping with wedding madness and getting everything moved over here, Amanda was also helping. She was doing a lot better than she did right after his dad's funeral. She's definitely more comfortable with her sense of style than she was nearly 3 years ago. She was currently working on the maternity article that was lost. Daniel was planning on running a variation of it in Mode as well.

The person who surprised him the most was Candy. First she was willing to drop everything she was doing for Monique and come help with the magazine. He would have completely let her say no but she did it anyway. Next she called Becks despite the awkwardness of it all. He has no idea what happened during that conversation but by the time he reached the Mode offices the pictures were in his inbox. There was also a quick email asking Daniel what his assistant's favorite flowers were.

As soon as they weren't in the middle of a crisis he was going to ask her if she was even interested in the guy as more than a one off. He wasn't exactly sure how he felt about his assistant dating his friend but it could be worse. She could be into somebody like that pretentious playwright guy Betty almost ended up with last spring. Compared to him, Becks was the nicest guy in the universe.

Finally, there was the fact that he has a new creative director. It made him feel better that he poached her from Lindsey Publishing. Now that Lindsay took over Isabella Press it would be all out war. The announcement was made the night before at the MAMA awards. Even though she knew it was coming, Wilhemina still managed to break a wine glass. Now that she lost her chance at buying Isabella, Daniel wonders if she's going to try to get back into Mode. There has to be a reason why Wilhelmina was helping to put together the wedding of someone that she doesn't like that well. (Unless, she really was stoned, that would explain many things.) Considering how nice of a person Monique is, she might be willing to give Wilhelmina a second chance. Of course, considering the shrewd businesswoman that she is that second chance would probably be at the food magazine.

After looking at her resume, Daniel knew that he wanted Natalia Winters at the magazine even before Diana quit so quickly. Now it was necessary to hire her without complex contract negotiations. The fact that she was willing to take the job under these circumstances was a miracle in itself, although the salary was going to be a bit higher.

So after an hour and a half the magazine was starting to come back together. He might actually have time to participate in the wedding.

Really he should have known better than to relax at that moment. Everything came apart when the new part owner of Isabella managed to get past security and walk right into Monique's office where Amanda is currently writing A Fashionista's Guide to Pregnancy. Despite the fact that he was in the middle of a meeting with Natalia and Sumreen about something for the magazine he followed behind. There was no way he was going to let his best friend (not counting his fiancée) deal with Dragon Lady Hartley alone. He knew all about what the woman did to the second woman that unfortunately got knocked up by her husband. He didn't trust the woman enough not to find Amanda's broken body at the bottom of the stairwell.

"What the fuck are you doing in my office?" Daniel yelled at the woman.

"I didn't think this was your office anymore. According to Suzuki, you're supposed to be in London now, destroying another part of your father's legacy." She said looking at him with an air of arrogance that he remembers well from his mother's former country club friends. These were also the same women that completely abandoned her after the rehab stint and the insanity that was Faye Somers murder trial.

"As long as my name is on the front of this building this is my office and you don't belong here. You have Isabella now. Get the fuck out of here," Daniel said forcefully seconds from calling security. It almost felt like he was channeling his father. He knew exactly why the evil bitch was here and this wasn't going to go down right now. Amanda didn't need this.

"I will leave as soon as I give her this. It's amazing how easy it is to expedite a paternity test when you have the right connections. I guess congratulations are in order, daddy." She said smirking at Daniel as she gave the _inconspicuous_ paper to Amanda. He had to fight the urge to smirk back. Thanks to Wilhelmina's double-cross, he already knew what was going to happen. He also knew that whatever was in there was completely fake. Unfortunately, Amanda did not.

Everyone knew that Amanda could not keep a secret even if her life depended on it and in this case, it really did. Therefore, Amanda did not know that Matt was really the father of her twins. Daniel told himself it was better this way. Unlike Matt, Daniel had no problem taking care of a child that wasn't his. He was doing well with DJ. Also unlike Daniel, Matt was not mature enough to actually raise a child. He just knew Matt would leave her at the first sign of trouble. He always did. Daniel is personally quite thankful that he abandoned Betty right after the Henry incident last year. Amanda was practically his best friend, if you didn't count his fiancée, he would do anything for her including help her raise a child. He already said that he would when he thought Matt was not coming back.

As soon as Amanda read the words on the paper tears were running down her cheeks. Without a second thought, Daniel ran to her and put an arm around her.

"It's going to be okay. We can do this together." He whispered in her ear as she started to sob harder. This was killing him. He wanted to tell her the truth so badly but he couldn't. It was literally a matter of life or death. If this did not work he was sure that Victoria Hartley would try to kill her.

"It seems that that child you were trying to pass off as my grandchild is not Matt's. Therefore I want you to leave my son alone and go back to whatever trailer park you came from." Amanda was crying too hard to be offended but Daniel was. She really didn't know Amanda at all.

"Let us offer praise to every god in the universe that the twins won't have a harpy like you for a grandmother. Thankfully Alexis will still get her new baby cousins." Brianna said with little Alexis resting on her hips. The little girl actually cheered. His niece obviously wanted a playmate badly. Apparently, DJ was too old for anything good like my little ponies or Barbies or so he has been told.

"No she won't. The babies are not Daniel's. There was this onetime thing at a bar after work. I barely remember it." Amanda said nervously. Daniel knew that she was lying. She was doing that thing that she did every time Wilhelmina had her scared half to death. Daniel was shocked she wasn't running out of the room yet.

"I always knew you were a gold digging whore." Victoria said bitterly.

"Anti Victoria said a bad word." The five-year-old said smiling.

"I'm sorry baby. How about I make it up to you and we will go for ice cream before the wedding?" Daniel was shocked at how quickly her demeanor changed. She actually seemed like a decent human being in that moment. Then again, Wilhelmina was the same way with William when she thought that he was her son.

"Can I go please, mommy?" Baby Alexis pleaded with her mother.

"Only if your big brother goes with you." She said before turning to Victoria. "I'm sure you have yet to meet Alexis' son DJ. See unlike you, the Meades completely embraced illegitimate children instead of... well you know what you did and so does God." Brianna punctuated her words with an angry glare.

"I will have your children back to you in one hour." She said just about to leave but not before taking a very long look at the desk outside where Justin and his boyfriend were going over something together.

"Because you're not carrying my grandchildren, I suggest that you stay away from my son. He doesn't need to be around your type." She said unable to resist one more dig. Daniel chose not to stay silent this time.

"I dated the type of girls that you want your son with and trust me Amanda is 10 times the woman these women are. You may see her as nothing more than someone after your son's money because she didn't come from the Upper East Side but I've never met someone that is so loyal to her friends before. She's too good for your son." Victoria didn't stick around to say anything else.

"If small children were not around I would have said something about the fact that Matt said he was going to switch to cock for life just to piss her off because of this. I don't know what my brother saw in that woman. Obviously, it wasn't much because he was never able to keep it in his pants" Brianna's words actually managed to make Amanda smile for a second before she started crying again.

"It is going to be okay." Briana said soothingly, "I hate to say this but Daniel is probably in a better place in his life to be a dad. He is doing really good job with DJ and baby Lexis." Daniel was shocked by her praise. He always thought that she saw him as the same screw up Alexis' did..

"I said that the baby is not his. There was this one time at a club." Amanda lied again, still in tears.

"I thought it was at a bar?" Daniel asked catching her in the lie.

"They both serve alcohol. I get confused sometimes."Amanda said as she wiped her nose on his shirt.

"I know you're lying. I was there when Monique made you go over every person you have had sex with in the last three months before conception. There hasn't been anybody else for nearly a year. I know you were not lying then." That's when she started crying harder.

"I don't want to be Charlie." Amanda said in between sobs. Over his shoulder, he could see Brianna mouthing the question "Who's Charlie?"

"You're not Charlie. She would've never done what you just tried to do. Besides you and I both know that we are much better off as friends, but that doesn't mean I'm going to abandon you."

"Yes but unfortunately you're in London now and engaged to the love of your life. By the way, I better be doing all the outfits for that wedding." That part made him smile.

"Of course you are. You can always come with me to London." Daniel offered putting the plan in motion. It was decided that it would be best for Amanda to be out of the country. He preferred for her to be in London but he just wanted her away from Victoria and Matt.

"I can't do that. My life is here." Amanda said most likely holding back for multiple reasons. Daniel knew there was more.

"What about if there was another reason to go?" Brianna asked. "You know that I sponsor a design workshop every summer at various universities throughout the US and Europe. This year's seminar happens to be in London and it doesn't begin until July. One person has dropped out and we have an empty spot. I don't mind using nepotism because I've seen your potential. Think of it as a welcome to the family present." Brianna suggested.

"But I'm not family." Amanda said wiping away a tear again with Daniel's shirt.

"Yes but you're now carrying Daniel's children which makes you the mother of Alexis' little cousins. That counts for me." Briana explained.

"The babies are not Daniel's." Amanda said again with a little less force behind her words this time.

"Yes but according to that piece of paper the babies are not Matt's. We have already established that you haven't had sex with anyone else since Independence Day 2009. By process of elimination, I'm the father." Daniel explained again.

"But what about Betty?" Amanda asked.

"She was the one that suggested you come to London. She's kind of lonely without that many friends there." Daniel said honestly. It really was Betty's idea. "Just think about it." Daniel said squeezing her hand.

"Okay," was Amanda's only response.

* * *

**The Present:**

Matt's head was pounding and he was pretty sure he's going to throw up at any moment. Matt sincerely wonders exactly how much he had to drink last night. He wonders why he went to Monique's wedding in the first place. It was a fucking disaster and he's not talking about the ceremony that was miraculously pulled off.

First, there was the fact that he ended up sitting next to a very angry Claire and his brother who wasn't very happy with him at all. They didn't say anything directly they just stared at him a lot.

Then there's the fact that his wonderful Aunt Briana forgot to warn him that his mother already confronted Amanda earlier then they thought she would. Of course, if he paid attention to his little niece he probably would have figured it out. So because he didn't know about what happened, he may have said the wrong thing to Amanda.

"I don't care if the baby is mine. I still love you."

"That's not what you said last time. Do you really want to be a father? Are you ready for this?""

Instead of answering her right away he stalled for a moment, thinking about the question. The pause was too much for Amanda.

"That's what I thought. You're only with me because you think you have some responsibility to me. Do you even love me at all?" Amanda asked as one tear ran down her face.

"Of course, I love you." He said trying to grab her but she just pushed him away.

"Why did you go back to Betty in the Bahamas when you knew full well she was in love with Daniel? If you love me, then why the hell did you leave me here so you could take your soul journey or whatever to Africa? Why did you break up with me as soon as Megan sent you that fake footage of me screwing around with Daniel? Why did you not ask me about it first before you sent the Dear Amanda letter?" She screamed at him as tears began to fall down harder. He was at a loss. He wasn't sure how to explain what he did.

"You can't even come up with a response, can you?"

"I do love you." He said after a moment.

"I just don't believe you anymore. Part of me thinks you're only with me now because I'm pregnant and you think the babies are yours."

"My mother is here." He said it as a phrase not a question.

"Of course she's here, she's BFF with Monique's adopted mother." Amanda said giving him a look as if he was completely crazy.

"No, I meant did she talk to you about the paternity of the babies?"

"Yes, congratulations you're not the father and right now I think that's a good thing because I don't want to raise my children with a guy that keeps running away."

"I don't keep running away. I already told you I'm fine with the babies being Daniel's."

"The DNA test says that you're not the babies' father, it didn't say anything about the babies being Daniel's." He was shocked. If Amanda was told that the babies were not his then she would automatically assume that the babies were Daniel's unless she slept around with someone else and didn't tell him. He was in another country so he couldn't completely blame her but she acted so offended when he accused her of sleeping with Daniel.

"You did sleep with somebody else after I went to Africa. How could you lie to me?" Amanda instantly became angrier than he has ever seen her. As soon as he saw her he knew that he shouldn't have said what he said but it was too late.

"This is why I know you don't love me. I can't stay here any longer and argue with you about this. It's not good for me and it's definitely not good for the babies. I'm done Matt." She said walking away from him as her tears continued to flow.

"Amanda!" Matt called out as he tried to grab her but she just pushed him away.

"Just get the fuck away from me. I may love you but right now I can't stand you." She punctuated her exit by throwing the necklace that he bought her a few weeks ago back at him.

With that she was gone and he spent the rest of the night making good use of the free liquor at the open bar. At some point he's pretty sure he got in a shouting match with his mother. Apparently, she was furious at the fact that he knew that Tiffany was back in New York. He wasn't even sure how she found out about Tiffany being back. He really didn't care. He was too angry at her for messing around with the DNA test and completely fucking up his relationship with Amanda. If it wasn't for her he would be spending this Sunday morning picking out baby furniture for the nursery instead he wasn't sure what he was going to do. He was sure groveling would be involved.

He's not even sure how he ended up in bed last night but he's pretty sure Tyler brought him home after his disastrous conversation with his mother where he told her that she was essentially dead to him. He also may have thrown up on somebody at some point. Again, he really doesn't remember. Of course, now he was paying for everything with the mother of all hangovers. A loud knocking at his door is not helping.

"Open the fucking door. If you have another guy or girl in there that is not a relative, I will kill you and make sure nobody will find the body. Wilhelmina Slater is like the mother I always wish I had and she knows how to take care of that sort of thing. She's had practice." Matt knew that the angry voice on the other side of the door could only be Marc and he was beyond furious. He seriously doubts that Marc could do any damage but if Matt wanted to get back on Amanda's good side he was going to have to be nice to her best friend. Of course, as soon as he opened the door he felt a fist connect with his jaw and in seconds he was falling back on the coffee table that was now nothing more than broken wood. Daniel may have hit him a lot harder but Marc was a hell of a lot angrier.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why did you just hit me?" He asked wiping blood away from his mouth.

"She's gone and it's all your fault." Marc said just about ready to punch him again. Fortunately, he was able to dodge the hit this time or maybe his photographer friend was able to pull him off before he attacked again.

"What are you talking about?" He asked angrily as Marc threw a crumpled piece of paper at him and as he read, for the third time that week, it seemed as if the world around him was crumbling.

To be continued

Where do you think Amanda is?

* * *

A/N: I just want to let everybody know that the next chapter is going to be the last in this section of the story (unless it gets too long and I have to split it). I'm going to be taking a hiatus for a couple of months to work on a new ugly Betty story. I think I need to take a break to get the creative juices flowing again.

I have two-story ideas posted below that I'm going to let you the reader vote on. However, as a third option I will not take a hiatus and goes straight into the second part of this story.

Below are your story choices:

**Working title: A Butterfly Flaps its Wings in the Bahamas**

Summary: How profoundly can your life be altered if you do one thing different? What could have happened if Daniel left his date with the blonde a little bit earlier and went straight to his best friend for help? A rewrite of season four with a D/B twist.

**Working title: Alex Suarez**

On the night of his brother's funeral, at a dinner party that his mother just had to throw, Daniel found 'comfort' in one of the catering staff. She was a sweet girl named 'Hilda' with braces and no fashion sense but at least she listened to him. A little less than two years later his father hires this girl, whose real name is Betty, as his new assistant because his father is sure that nothing will happen. Too bad something already did.

The poll has been posted on my profile. If it is decided for me not to have a hiatus then I will begin the runner-up story in about 4 to 5 months. Voting will continue until 10/15.


	28. It's a Nice day to Start Again 2

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter also thank you to everybody who voted in the pole. At least one person did want this story to continue without the hiatus. However, the majority would like to see Alex Suarez. Look for that story beginning sometime in December.

**It's a Nice Day to Start Again: Part two**

* * *

Monique was supposed to be spending her honeymoon relaxing and enjoying copious amounts of good sex with her new husband. Instead, Mo was sharing her honeymoon bed in one of the best hotels in New York with a very emotionally distraught 15-year-old as her new husband of less than 24 hours slept on the couch. It's probably not a good sign when a marriage starts out this way.

Gio was sleeping on the couch for various reasons. He was furious that she didn't tell him immediately about his sister being pregnant. Contrary to what he said, she wasn't being selfish by waiting until after the wedding to let him know about something she just found out about less than 48 hours earlier. His sister was the one who didn't want to tell him and it really wasn't her secret to tell. He only found out because said teenage sister threw up on his shoes during the reception. He met some snide comment about her acting like Amanda and neither one could keep a straight face.

Now because he is in overprotective big brother mode he doesn't trust his very pregnant sister to stay home alone, even if her cousin was going to be there. Instead, he insisted that they bring his 15 year old sister on their honeymoon. If she didn't think of the girl as the child she would never have, she would probably be more upset about the whole thing. However, because he insisted Gio was the one who would be going to sleep on the couch.

Her husband was also upset with her because she prevented him from killing the boy that got his little sister in a family way. She was glad that she didn't tell him what she found out from Candy regarding the sperm donor trying to force her to get an abortion. Gio would want to kill him for that alone. Really, she didn't want the first few days of her marriage ruined by him being in jail on murder charges. Unlike Wilhelmina, she doesn't fine conjugal visits sexy.

Of course, the number one reason why her husband is sleeping on the couch and she was not getting laid any time soon is Wilhelmina Slater. First, he was upset about all the games that she and Wilhelmina have been playing recently including staging a fake argument at the rehearsal dinner to deflect from the fact that the two were playing matchmaker. He was upset about the scheme to take over Mode and Isabella. Also considering what happened probably he wishes the entire family was very far away from the moron that got his sister pregnant.

Of course, he was most upset about the current alliance with the woman. She tried to explain it as 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' and right now her enemies were Wilhelmina's enemies. Thanks to the Isabella deal falling apart and her targeting of Amanda, their common enemy was Victoria Hartley. Now, her husband would say that Wilhelmina only hated Victoria Hartley because she stole Isabella from her. Monique knew that inside the darkness that is Wilhelmina Slater she still had a heart even if it was two sizes too small. She loved Marc. He was like a son to her. During the shooting when Monique was called in to handle everything as being the most senior member of the meat publication staff that Claire could trust she got to look at Wilhelmina's emergency contact list. Marc is that contact. He also had Power of Attorney

Of course, the most telling was the fact that her life insurance also went to Marc. That was a new change only made after her earlier hospitalization this year.

It was obvious to anybody that Marc was important to Wilhelmina so much that she encouraged him to stay on at Mode even if it would be in her best interest to take him onto her new project. Amanda was important to Marc. If Wilhelmina was like the mother he always wished he had, Amanda was his sister. Because Amanda is important to her surrogate child, Wilhelmina will do things to protect Amanda. The information about Victoria's latest scheme was given without any provocation.

To deal with an enemy that already got away with attempted murder they needed someone who could be equally vicious. The woman was too smart for mere mortals. Even Brianna and a team of private investigators couldn't connect her to the attempted murder of Austin's mother when she was pregnant with him. (The fact that Justin was now dating the other long-lost Hartley son was a whole other area of concern that she would get to after the honeymoon.) They needed someone on Victoria Hartley's level and Wilhelmina was the best option.

They have already been working together for the last few weeks on operation "get rid of the slimy boyfriend". Since they were able to successfully manipulate Cliff into inviting Marc to stay at his place it seems like the two may be more powerful together. Seeing that she saw Wilhelmina threatened to cut off Troy's private parts if he came near Marc again, Monique is sure that she will do anything to protect those that she considered hers.

Of course, as Gio sarcastically pointed out in their argument last night Wilhelmina wouldn't do anything for free. Love and revenge can only take you so far. There was going to be a price for this. She knew that Wilhelmina would ask for something but it needed to be on her terms. That meant going to Wilhelmina's level and resorting to blackmail. Thanks to their recent conversation she had something of great value on Wilhelmina. With her connections it wasn't that hard to fine 'Rhonda Slater's real Honduras birth certificate. Of course, she would not use it in the same way that others would. Contrary to what everybody assumes Monique knew that you could get more from people if you try to be nice.

Her sister/daughter was already using the more traditional route. At least that explained why the woman was back in New York causing chaos for everyone. Of course, Wilhelmina would never tell her this. She overheard a very interesting conversation when she was hiding in the ladies room from her stepmother and mother on Friday when Renée dragged Wilhelmina into the otherwise empty restroom and pretty much demanded a lot of money to keep quiet about the fact that she was her mother so that Wilhelmina could keep her 'perfect' life. Wilhelmina's response was to start breaking furniture. However, because she doesn't want to deal with a still recovering Wilhelmina bleeding all over the marble floor she felt it was best to intervene.

"You just got out of the hospital less than two months ago after practically dying on the table. Do you really want to end up in the hospital again? You can't do stuff like this anymore." Monique said as she grabbed something heavy out of the woman's hand before she could break anything else.

"I can do whatever the fuck I want. You heard?" Wilhelmina said pulling away in anger.

"Yes, I know that your biological daughter is fucking with your life. What I really want to know is why you're reacting like this when the absolute worst she can do is spread the truth. Would that be such a horrible thing?" Monique asked.

"Even if we come from the same circles you couldn't possibly understand why it matters. You have never cared about your reputation." Wilhelmina sneered as she started to repair her makeup.

"I care about what people say about me but only people that are worth caring about. I thought you were the same way. People say worse things about you already. I've said worse things about you. Contrary to what some in your father's party might think no one asks to be raped." Monique said with a soft expression that appeared to just make Wilhelmina angrier.

"Even you are looking at me with pity. I'd rather be a monster than a victim."

"I know you're not familiar with either but that was empathy not pity. There's a difference. You are only a victim if you let her get away with this." Wilhelmina responded with a questioning look.

"How do you propose I do that?" Skepticism was very audible in her voice.

"Take her weapon away. If she doesn't have it she can't hurt you." She explained hoping Wilhelmina would not require a detailed explanation.

"She will always be able to hurt me. You wouldn't understand." She was really tired of people throwing the fact that she couldn't give birth in her face.

"I have a pregnant 15-year-old. I understand." Monique said darkly.

"I did what I had to do to protect her." Wilhelmina said placing her makeup back into her bag.

"As well as protect yourself, you were only a child. You did what you had to do. You did not do anything wrong." Monique added before Wilhelmina made some excuse to leave as quickly as possible.

That reaction was all the more reason why Monique was shocked to see Wilhelmina screaming at one of the volunteers that Marc brought in to help salvage the wedding that Dominique destroyed. She was only on the roof because she just received a SOS text message that Victoria was now in the building and she had no idea where Amanda was. She didn't want to see her friend tossed off the roof by the evil one (Victoria, not Wilhelmina). She was expecting Wilhelmina to avoid her for the present, not volunteering at her wedding. Actually, she doesn't expect Wilhelmina to help salvage her wedding or anything else for that matter. Wilhelmina may not be harmless but she's not exactly altruistic either. Monique doubted that painkillers and a near death experience changed her that much.

"What are you doing here?" Monique asked as soon as she saw Wilhelmina making Chloe from accounting cry.

"Making sure that your wedding is not a crate paper disaster like you did to mine. If my sister didn't show up I would have killed you for that." Wilhelmina said with a sneer as she returned to Chloe. "I know you had very little to work with but even Daniel's fashionably challenged girlfriend had better instincts then you. At least, she knows how to follow instructions." Wilhelmina snapped as she grabbed the flower out of the woman's hand, resulting in the accountant running off to the bathroom.

"Do you really have to make my employees cry? I've been doing a lot over the last few months to help people recover from years of your tyranny. If you have to make someone cry please wait until my father shows up with a pop tart." Monique said with a frown.

"Maybe if you did things like that more often your wedding would not have been destroyed by your future husband's former girlfriend, have your father bring his new wife to your wedding even though you can't stand her, or have vengeful employees sellout your plans to the competition." If she wasn't already wearing her dress she would have been tempted to knock Wilhelmina unconscious.

"I didn't want my father to come but my mom made me invite him because it would look bad, even if she can't stand the bastard at all, because he is paying for this. I may have underestimated sourdough girl but her chaos did create extra bills for my father and she taught me who my real friends are so I can't dislike her that much. The Trader isn't that big of a problem. I have lots of contacts at Isabella that still like me and I'm going to make the next few months of his life miserable." Wilhelmina almost smirked at that before her face became icy again. Her response was to return to downstairs to finish getting ready. Unfortunately, Wilhelmina followed behind her.

"Considering the current state of _Mode _I would be a bit more worried. I understand your entire State Department shoot and interview with Hillary Clinton was killed. There goes your pre-wedding exclusive." There was that evil smirk she knew so well.

"It was going to be about wildlife trafficking not the wedding." She lied to make herself feel better. She was beyond angry about losing the wedding exclusive her only consolation was Isabella didn't get the interview either. There was no need for her to show weakness in front of Wilhelmina. "We regrouped and trust me the stuff at the National zoo is a lot better than what we originally had planned. The pictures of pandas are always good. Let Isabella have the State Department, we have something better."

"We agree, shockingly enough. Seriously, an article about wildlife trafficking in a fashion magazine? Although an interview with Clinton is still an interview with Clinton and I'm sure you're smart enough to get some wedding questions in there."

"We both know the Magazine industry at least in the print form is dying. We have to adapt. As you stated an exclusive interview with Hillary Clinton about any subject will help and in this case maybe we would have got people to read the magazine who would not touch it under any other circumstances."

"Except that you lost the interview." Surprisingly, Wilhelmina's voice was not as malicious as one would expect it to be.

"No, Marc's psychotic now ex-boyfriend managed to cause a security incident that got us kicked out of the Department. Next time you do your sister a favor and higher one of her therapy support group friends; make sure you tell Marc not to date the guy." That piece of information came out during a nasty encounter with Wilhelmina's 'sister' the day before. Monique would love to know how Wilhelmina was manipulated into doing something that nice.

"I was otherwise occupied at the time. I'm helping you with your get Marc a sane boyfriend plan. You'll be happy to know that he spent most of the night talking about his time in DC with his former lover. He barely mentioned the insane one." Her eyes showed that she was actually happy.

"Good. Maybe this time he won't fuck everything up." Wilhelmina just gave her a look that was difficult to interpret.

"Why exactly are you here?" Monique asked as she found herself in one of the executive offices once more.

"Marc emailed me. Since you did such a wonderful job decorating for my wedding, I thought I would return the favor." Given the way she was looking at Monique she was sure there was probably poison coding the flowers.

"I'm sending him to cover fashion in the Arctic Circle for this." She said slamming the door.

"That's too bad. The cold conditions do horrible things to his skin." Wilhelmina's said with biting sarcasm.

"Although, I doubt you would do anything that reckless. With your semi-daughter in a family way, you're going to be spread very thin. You are going to need all the help you can get." That's when Monique realized that Wilhelmina's presence had nothing to do with Marc being less than discerning when he sent out his SOS e-mail.

"You want back at Mode." She blurted out as soon as the idea came to her. "Not to sound mean, but we both know I'm a lot smarter than Daniel and I don't feel like playing games with you. This endless game of cat and mouse that you and the Meads have been playing for the last couple years has been bad for everyone including you. It literally almost killed you."

"You're a Mensa member, you're probably smarter than everyone here at least in the academic sense." Really she is not surprised Wilhelmina managed to get an insult in there.

"However you need a few more years in this industry before you have all the necessary wisdom to not make a complete ass of yourself. If I wanted my old job back, I would stop the sell." Monique knew that was highly possible. "It would certainly get rid of my little problem."

That makes sense. You can't get money that's not available but Renée wasn't exactly known for being rational even when she was properly medicated. That probably would not stop her.

"You're not backing out?" Monique asked knowing it was a possibility.

"After you commit yourself to a man whose goal in life is to have the largest topping bar in North America, the lawyers will be here for us to sign the papers." Despite her shock she was still annoyed at the insult to Gio.

"He doesn't have that dream anymore." She said in Gio's defense. "I have convinced him to expand his culinary horizons. He has been studying in Europe. He can be quite ambitious when pushed. If we could only buy out his slightly deranged business partner I would be completely happy."

"You don't have to be so defensive. The fact that I'm willing to eat his food, points to how skilled he is." Again, Monique is surprised by where this conversation is going.

"If you don't want my job what do you want. What's going to be your plan B now that Isabella is not an option?" Monique asked the question that has been on her mind since she knew that the Isabella deal would fall apart.

"That deal that you struck with my father to get Connor out of prison early had a catch. His visa will be rescinded and he will be deported back to Australia." Monique wasn't expecting that.

"That's not possible. He's now married to a U.S. citizen who happens to be the daughter of a senator. Rumor has it that you were able to get Betty's father citizenship without actually trying."

"Sometimes those things can be a disadvantage. According to a staff member my father did not want this marriage to happen for political reasons if not personal ones. That is why he didn't show up or even send a present. The deportation was his idea. He does not think I would leave New York behind." Monique laughed at that. Really the senator had no idea how much Wilhelmina loved that man. According to Marc she willingly gave up Mode for him. She even managed to get Molly away from Connor. Monique was unable to do that and she had been trying to ever since Molly's first round of cancer treatment. She wasn't going anywhere.

"That man doesn't know you at all. You want Mode Australia?" This request made sense to her. Wilhelmina only had at present a small stake in the international publications. However, Monique's father was heavily invested in multiple magazines in Australia including Mode.

"Or the restaurant/lifestyle magazine that I know your father has. I want to try something different."

"Why do you want the restaurant magazine? You just started eating again recently. What experience do you have in the culinary world?"

"I ran into this unfortunate soul this morning that happens to be a fabulous Baker. She just tried to burn down her former boyfriend/business partner's wedding. She wanted out but she also wanted to get even with him so she refuses to give up her stake in his company. I convinced her that the best revenge was to sell her shares to a woman that her ex-boyfriend's future wife absolutely despises." There was that evil smirk again.

"You bought out sourdough girl?" Monique asked in absolute surprise.

"For a surprisingly low price at that, she had no idea what she was doing."

"Why?" When it comes to Wilhelmina Slater there's always a reason for anything she does and it rarely makes any sense to anyone who doesn't understand her completely. She wished Marc was here. He is the only one who truly understands Wilhelmina's motives. Unfortunately, he was trying to remember how to perform a wedding ceremony.

"Thanks to certain rumors spread by our mutual enemy I'm untouchable in the publishing industry." Monique wanted to say something about how this had more to do with her new husband who embezzled several million dollars from a company that she was part owner of then anything else but she felt it was best to keep her mouth shut.

"She has convinced everyone that I was let go from _Mode_ because of Connor. No one will return my phone calls. She wants me to come begging for the job at Isabella." Monique could only describe the sound Wilhelmina was making as villainess laughter

"Wilhelmina Slater doesn't beg." Monique said in all seriousness.

"However, if people believe I left to start a new restaurant with the husband of my successor..." Wilhelmina explained with a gesture of her hand.

"Everyone will realize that the rumors are completely untrue and maybe your shocking career change was triggered by your recent near fatal 'accident'." That made sense in a weird way.

"When your husband is released and you have to move to Australia, Gio gets full control of his restaurant and you get the job in with reputation intact." Monique said understanding what she needs to give.

"Exactly. Although, I may do some consulting in the meantime."

"What about your sister problem?"

"I'm sure you'll take care of that. It isn't the first time you had to commit a family member. I am sure you have some ideas."

"What exactly did your husband tell you about me?" Monique asked but she never received an answer. She instantly realized she had no choice but to go with Wilhelmina's planned.

When she explained to her now husband why she agreed to the plan he was upset. He doesn't like the idea of Wilhelmina Slater having a say in his restaurant. He didn't see the necessity of Wilhelmina's intervention despite him knowing full well that Sourdough Girl wasn't going to sell her shares to anybody unless they have the potential to hurt Mo. Wilhelmina had the potential but she no longer has will, at least for right now. They needed each other too much. Also unlike Dominique, Wilhelmina has never actually tried to kill her. No the worst she has ever done was stifle her potential. There were worse things.

Of course, he doesn't see it that way. That's how he ended up on the couch. He said some things to her that are going to require a really good apology present. Obviously, he's trying with croissants if the aroma in the air is any indication.

"Is this your way of apologizing?" She said as she saw her husband in the doorway.

"I still don't trust Wilhelmina but I do trust you when it comes to my sister. I'm not sure we should trust her judgment seeing as that is what got her in this situation in the first place but I don't want to force her to do something that she will regret later on."

"You know I don't want to force her. If my father was successful, I wouldn't be here."

"That would be a shame." He said kissing her on the forehead.

"I get why you're upset about the whole Wilhelmina thing. She's the lesser of two evils. I don't trust her that much either but I trust her more than your ex-girlfriend. Dominique actively tried to kill me. Her slander campaign alone was not good for the restaurant."

"I see your point, I just wish there was another way than having the devil herself owning 30% of my business."

"I'd rather work with somebody who doesn't actively want me 6 feet under. Wilhelmina knows how to sell stuff. If you can sell the $200,000 dress then you can sell a $15.00 sandwich to the New York elite. She has a good business mind. You can learn a lot from her as long as you keep in mind that she will screw you over if it becomes necessary."

"The magazine industry is a lot different than the restaurant business." Her husband said starting to get defensive again. She didn't feel like doing this before she had her morning croissant.

"But the fashion industry is not. Both are about getting people to buy things they don't necessarily need. Besides it's only going to be a year at most. Connor has been keeping up his end of the bargain so I'm sure by our one year anniversary Wilhelmina will safely be in Toorak." She said smiling.

"I hope you're right. Besides we have more important things to worry about. What are we going to do with Antonello?" He asked with a sigh.

"Support her." She told Gio. "And no you can't kill the guy who got her pregnant. If rumors are true and there is more than a four year age difference we might be able to get the bastard for statutory."

"This is why I love you." He said kissing her once more.

Of course the touching family moment was ruined by her phone ringing. She ignored it at first because she wasn't going to have sex on her honeymoon she should at least have a good gratuitous make out session.

"Marc, I'm on my honeymoon. Somebody better be dead. Is somebody dead?" she asked after a moment because she didn't put anything past Victoria Hartley.

"Amanda is gone." Monique started shaking at that moment.

"Gone as in dead or gone as in kidnapped?" She asked with worry.

"She left a note saying that she was leaving because Matt is a bastard." Marc said bitterly.

"Are you sure the note is genuine? Have you called the police yet?" Again she didn't trust Victoria Hartley at all. She could see her staging the entire thing.

"Actually, my neighbor did after I punched out Matt."

"Good for you."

"Actually, not really, you're my one phone call. Can you get me out of jail?" Okay, she was not expecting that at all.

"I would ask you why you didn't call Wilhelmina but we don't have time. Tell me where you are." This is definitely the worst honeymoon ever.

* * *

Amanda was half asleep as they walked through the London Airport. This flight was a lot harder than the one just three months ago. Her back hurt and she has lost count of all the times that she has gotten sick. Maybe it was a lot worse because she is farther along in her pregnancy. Maybe it was because she was here under such worse circumstances. Even if Betty reassured her yesterday that she was okay with being a stepmom to the twins, Amanda still felt uneasy. Maybe once upon a time she wanted to be Mrs. Daniel Meade but that was a long time ago. He deserved to be happy after everything that happened with Molly. She did not want to take that away by being here.

Then again maybe she felt uneasy because Matt's mom threatened to kill her after her encounter with her now former boyfriend at the wedding yesterday. At least she thinks that it was a death threat.

"I thought I told you to stay away from my son." Victoria Hartley said as soon as she walked into the bathroom. Amanda was already crying about what happened.

"I am. I want nothing to do with him." Amanda told her sternly as her anger made her tears subside.

"Good, I would hate for those two little babies to become orphans." Some people may see Amanda as being stupid and considering she thought that Matt was a decent human being she may be inclined to agree. However, even she could recognize an obvious death threat. Why did this individual hate her so much?

"That wouldn't happen because they have an aunt that loves them." Brianna said walking into the room.

"Vicky, you should stick to passive threats. Now we know where to look if another Hartley mother ends up at the bottom of a stairwell." She actually smirked at her former sister-in-law's.

"I hate when you call me that obnoxiousness moniker." Mrs. Hartley said in disgust.

"I hate you, so I guess we're even."

"Is everything okay in here Marc wanted to check on you but he needs to break up a fight between the bride and her father?" Betty asked walking in.

Excused herself why she hates me so much "Unlike you, I'm still in my 30s. I can dress however I want." Victoria Hartley left abruptly at that.

"Don't know why she hates me so much." Amanda said as tears returned once more.

"Because unlike her and the rest of her tennis club you actually have a heart." Brianna said with bitterness.

"Matt loves you." Betty added cheerily.

"My former sister-in-law does not enjoy competing for affection." Brianna interjected.

"No, Matt doesn't. He left me for you in the Bahamas even when he was fully aware you were in love with someone else." She explained looking directly at Betty. "He left me for Africa even though he knew I loved him. He believed that I screwed around with someone else, when Daniel automatically knew I was lying because I care about him too much to mess up his relationship with you. I would say that I love Daniel like a brother but that would be a little incestuous because we slept together."

"No worse than anything else that goes on in this family. Tyler is related to Alexis Junior on both sides of the family. Matt does love you he just doesn't know how to show it." His aunt said weakly in his defense. Amanda just looked at her with eyes filled with tears.

"Regardless, I don't think you should stay in Manhattan. I don't trust Victoria." Brianna said and Betty nodded her head in agreement.

"She wants me to stay away from Matt and I'm going to. She doesn't want me to have her grandchildren so I'm not." Amanda said angrily wiping away her tears. She was so sick of crying for Matt.

"Actually," Betty started to say something but she shut up quickly with a glare from Brianna.

"Unfortunately, I know my nephew and he will not stay away from you. Maybe it's best if you just get away from New York for a while. Come to London." Brianna suggested.

"I don't want to impose, especially on you and Daniel."

"I want you there. Honestly I hate it. I have no friends. Everybody at work believes I got ahead by sleeping with my former boss."

"Wasn't that your first year at Mode?" Amanda asked still crying.

"But at least I had Christina. Also most people did not believe that I got my job by sleeping with Daniel." Amanda started to say something about how most people at Mode thought that too eventually but thought better of it.

"Doesn't DJ work with you?" She asked instead.

"Yeah, but there's some things you can't tell your fiancé's nephew. Also, I need help planning the wedding. You did a good job for Gio. All things considered, it really was a beautiful ceremony." Betty said smiling and unfortunately without the braces it was harder to resist.

"Okay," Amanda finely said with resignation as she was pulled out of the bathroom.

Of course, she wasn't expecting to be put on a plane overnight but after coming home to find another strongly worded suggestion to leave her baby alone from Matt's mother she decided it was best to leave now or rather she was forced into it by Betty. She has become too manipulative for her own good in her old age. Although, it was possible that the strongly worded letter could've been from Marc's personal stocker but she had babies to worry about. Despite the situation she still turned down the invitation to stay with Daniel. Although Amanda thinks this is why Candy offered her the other wing of the giant apartment that she was staying in. She didn't know Monique's former assistant and friend that well so it had to be Daniel or Betty asking her to do this. She was grateful for it anyway.

"Do you need to rest? We can get something to eat before we leave the Airport." Candy asked breaking Amanda out of her memories. It was just the two of them. Betty and Daniel would be staying on another day.

"No, I'm still too baby sick to eat. I don't think I can take the subway or whatever they call it here. Can we take a cab?" Amanda pleaded.

"I thought about that. Actually somebody is picking us up." Candy said with a grim expression. Amanda did not ask any more questions as they kept walking.

She was shocked to see that it was Becks picking them up. She only knew that her former fun buddy was in the country because of a long conversation she had with Betty and an email she got last week from the man himself.

"What are you doing here?" Amanda asked as he kissed her on the cheek. Sometime during the time when she thought she was in love with Daniel she may have screwed around with his friend. They slept together a few times and then he would email her occasionally or send her trinkets from where ever he was in the world. They were not that close. The first time that she heard anything from him in the last year was a week ago when he finally sent her some strange e-mail out of the blue. Because she was so mad at Matt she decided to use Becks as a sounding board. Unlike everyone else, he could see things from the outside. He also talked a lot about this one girl that he worked with recently that he liked but things were complicated.

"Apparently picking you and my girlfriend up from the airport." So Candy was the girl he was talking about in his email. "When did you get so pregnant? You didn't mention anything in your last email." The way he said that it seemed really fake. It was obvious that he already knew even if their e-mail conversation focused on Matt. "I guess that Matt guy you're dating doesn't know how to use a condom." Those words made her cry again. As much as she tried to run away from everything in New York it was going to come back. Maybe she couldn't run away from the past but she could start over. She would start over, as soon as she finished crying.

* * *

"That was really the wrong thing to say." Candy said with an angry scowl directed firmly at Becks. Seriously why did she agree to this? Now Candy was stuck dealing with a hysterical Amanda again. The flight to London was already difficult enough with the woman breaking into rants about Matt in between throwing up.

"Amanda if you stop crying right now I will take you to Harrods next weekend." Candy offered not knowing what else to say. Daniel owed Candy hazard pay for putting up with his baby's mama.

"You're dating Becks?" Amanda asked between sniffles. That just annoyed her more than when Becks told her that.

"I am not his girlfriend." She groused. "I only agreed to see the moron again under these circumstances so he would send us the proofs yesterday." Candy said in her defense. Amanda just gave her a very strange look. Who was she to judge Candy when she had sex and subsequently got pregnant just to help a friend get over the death of his wife? Okay, when you look at what happened like that it doesn't seem so bad.

"If you really didn't want to see me again you would've had Daniel talk to me. If I actually tried to use you or mess with Daniel's magazine he really would make me an appointment with the doctor that made his brother his sister." She knew that he was right as soon as he said it.

"Did you think that maybe I didn't want to see you again?" She argued back as he drove.

"You could've taken a cab. However, this lets me catch up with Amanda. We have known each other for years." He said with an annoying grin.

"It's obvious you are such great friends considering you did not know she was pregnant. You two can catch up as soon as she stops crying because you said the wrong thing." She said in a huff. "Amanda we can try to get pizza after this if you stop crying." Surprisingly she almost stopped for a moment before starting again.

"Seriously, did you have to say whatever you said that set her off?" She said still glaring.

"I didn't think she would start crying like that. I assume that the bastard abandoned her." His answer was more sobbing. "I'm surprised Daniel hasn't called Alexis' doctor to take care of him." Now that actually got Amanda to stop crying.

"He should." Amanda said without tears.

'He probably will,' Candy thought to herself.

"The situation with her and Matt is complicated." Candy started.

"He was planning to do the noble thing until he found out he didn't get me pregnant. Apparently, I was that way before we got together. Not that he believes me because he thinks I will sleep with anyone." She was just happy Amanda was angry now. She can deal with angry Amanda better than crying hysterically Amanda.

"Considering I haven't seen you since July, I know it's not mine." She wondered if he was actually joking but she wasn't sure.

"The babies are Daniel's." Amanda said just before the two try to explain everything. Although it seems that he probably already knew some of what was going on. She wondered how much Daniel told him.

"You and Daniel have a very interesting friendship." He joked.

"I'm a really interesting friend to have. You should write me more often. How's Katie? You said you would send me a picture." Amanda said obviously trying to move the conversation to non-Daniel related ground.

"Who's Katie?" Candy asked an irritation. She would be beyond angry if he was married or had a girlfriend. She hates when that happens. Why does she keep ending up with assholes?

"My daughter, she's almost two. Daniel wasn't the only victim of a broken condom. But sometimes accidents can be a wonderful thing. Her mom is some British model I had a one night stand with." Why does that last part not surprise her?

"So she's the reason why you're not in Afghanistan right now?"Candy asked skeptically. She doesn't think it's a possibility but after spending time with Daniel she's starting to think that not all men are like her father that she never met.

"Don't be so skeptical. Yes, my daughter is the reason why I'm here. Contrary to what you may think, I actually want to spend time with my daughter and therefore that's why I'm here taking the photographer equivalent of a desk job. You think you know me but you have no idea who I am Candy. Just because I enjoy sex doesn't mean I am a complete bastard. If you stop making stupid assumptions about me you might find out that you actually like me. All I'm asking is for you to give me a chance."

"You want to just start over?" she asked.

"If that's what it takes. It's a nice day to start again."

"Maybe," was Candy's only response.

* * *

Seriously, Daniel thought he was going to avoid the great family brunch when Monique's wedding literally went up in flames yesterday and that idiot David destroyed his first issue. No such luck. Now that the magazine was done, he had no excuse to avoid a very uncomfortable breakfast at his future father-in-law's house with everyone there. This was the unfortunate side effect of your (almost) father-in-law and your mother being good friends. He was sure that they conspired against him. He wanted to be flying back to London this morning but due to last-minute arrangements to get Amanda safely out of the country, their flight wouldn't be leaving until 4 PM allowing for a very late breakfast/brunch.

So far this breakfast, his mother and sister got into a screaming match about her decision to get treatment in Cleveland, as well as, the fact Alexis kept the fact that she was very sick from everyone here. DJ said a couple of interesting things in French to his mother. Daniel could only understand the curse words but it wasn't good. Alexis Junior also could understand the curse words and therefore he now had to give her candy for swearing. His mother also said something to Betty about backing out on the spa time Friday. Daniel is personally surprised that wasn't mentioned during their alone time yesterday. He knew that his mother and his fiancée spent several hours together yesterday preparing for Monique's surprisingly wonderful wedding (despite computer viruses and pyromaniacs). Also, Daniel purposely stayed away from anything alcoholic because he may say something to his sister about the fact that he was upset that she had two kids and he didn't have any even though he would be taking care of Amanda's twins as much as she would let him. He didn't want anything Amanda related to come up during the morning.

The dysfunctionalness of the morning was not solely confined to the Meade family. The Suarez sisters got in a fight with their father about him neglecting to mention that he was offered a job in California. He defended himself by stating that he was just thinking about it and wasn't going to take it. That's when Betty gave him a sweet pep talk and convinced her father to take the job. Although judging by facial expression alone he was not entirely sure his almost sister-in-law was okay with that.

After all the fighting they moved on to wedding planning. 5 minutes into everything Daniel realized he got off very light with his first (not that legal) marriage. His mother and Hilda have already decided that he and Betty would be having a Christmas wedding in New York because it would be easier for everybody to attend. It will also be at the hotel that Monique's wedding was supposed to be at if they could pull it off. He and Betty were successfully able to get it changed to the day after Christmas stating that it was the day of their first real kiss. That led to more uncomfortable questions that he really did not want to answer. He's just glad that Justin was spending the day at his boyfriend's house and not an active participant. Justin was able to get out of this insanity by arguing that because he would be going to London earlier than planned he deserved to spend as much time with his boyfriend as possible. Justin did so good the day before that he was able to convince Monique to let him spend most of the summer in London. Now he will be there for all of July and August even if his mother was slightly apprehensive. Maybe that's why she's giving him annoyed looks right now.

His mother, sister, her baby's mama, and his fiancée were still planning the greatest wedding ever. They were now arguing over the guest list. The strange thing was no one was really listening to his or Betty's suggestions, so much for a small wedding. Despite doing enough wedding issues over the last five years to actually contribute to this discussion he was being completely ignored. He was actually happy when Monique called. He was too frustrated to stay in there.

"Why did you call?" He asked as soon as he stepped into the Suarez kitchen. "Shouldn't you be enjoying copious amounts of honeymoon sex right now?" He joked before realizing that is exactly what should be going on and Monique would not call him unless there was a reason. "What is wrong? Please tell me the magazine didn't go to hell again?" Knowing his luck there would be another computer virus that would destroy everything.

"The magazine is fine, in both countries. Also my husband just found out his 15 year old sister got knocked up by an almost 20 year old moron. Thankfully she's under 17 and we can press charges according to Fernando." If Monique called Fernando things were bad. He was the fixer of the company's legal team. "Gio is not going to let her out of his sight until the baby is born. I'm probably not going to be having sex until after Christmas."

According to my mother and sister I'm getting married the day after Christmas, so your second marriage will probably still be legal before mind."

"Thankfully the marriage was consummated in my office right before the reception. I expect to be a bridesmaid." Daniel blinked at that.

"I know from personal experience how important it is to make your marriage legal but I did not need to know the details. Because you missed out on being a bridesmaid at the not legal wedding, I guess you should be this time around." His words were mildly sarcastic.

"So you watched the DVD from Molly?" Monique asked with sadness in her voice.

"Last night." Daniel said simply.

It was so hard to see Molly again. Maybe that's why he avoided watching the DVD. Of all the things he could've seen he didn't expect her to apologize for being selfish.

"I'm sorry." Those were the first words out of Molly's mouth in her video. They were repeated multiple times.

"I think I figured out early on in our relationship that you were destined to be with Betty." Molly said at some point during the dialog. "I saw the signs. Why do you think I was laughing yesterday at your Jim and Spock comparison? Even though I knew it wasn't going to work out I just couldn't do this alone again. I tried to leave but just couldn't do it. I love Monique dearly but it just wasn't enough. I needed you there." Daniel actually yells at the screen to say that he would have been there regardless but it doesn't make a difference now.

"I need you to say it was going to be okay even though we both knew that it wasn't. I was so selfish. But I'm going to make it right. I'm going to make sure that you do not drowning your own grief. Hopefully my planning has worked and you are already with Betty. If not you should be. I know you love her. I am okay with that because I know she loves you too. Because of her I can leave this world in peace knowing that you will be okay." The screen went to black and Daniel was in tears. He spent the rest of the night crying in Betty's arm as she repeatedly told him that she loved him more than anything else in the universe.

"Betty made me." Daniel started after returning back to the present. Daniel will blame Molly related thoughts for what he accidentally said next. "She did it right after she returned from dropping Amanda off at the airport. I mean Candy not Amanda." He tried to correct himself after he realized what he said but it was too late.

"I believe you the first time. At least I now know she is safe." Monique said sounding lighter. "Now, I don't have to fill out a police report."

"She left Marc a note." Daniel said remembering what Betty told him. "

"Marc did not have time to give me details and I'm naturally paranoid. There is a time limit on your one phone call. Amanda is missing. That's why I was calling you. Psycho mommy already tried to have one of Mr. Hartley's fun time friends off. Who knows what she could've done." Monique explained.

"That's why Betty convinced her to leave last night. No, I can't tell you where but she's safe. Did you say one phone call? What happened?" Daniel asked Monique as soon as his mind caught up.

"According to Cliff, Marc found a note from Amanda, overreacted, and punched Matt out. No, I do not know what the note said. One of the neighbors heard the whole thing and called the police." His mouth was opened wide in complete shock. Daniel couldn't believe that. Marc has an asthma attack at least twice a week.

"Marc got arrested for beating up Matt?" He asked for clarification.

"Yes, I'm going to bail him out of jail right now."

"Put it on the company card. I'll pay for it myself. Think of it as my way of saying 'congratulations for doing something I wish I could but my girlfriend won't let me'. Also, call Fernando again. Tell him I'll take care of it." Daniel suggested. "Matt has a lot of money and may want vengeful."

"This is the only company I know that keeps a criminal law firm on retainer; however, it does come in handy." Monique quipped.

"You should probably call PR too. Two top employees fighting is not going to look good." Danielle's suggested

"Already did. They're busy. The wicked bitch of Isabella just did an interview this morning with that new girl on fashion TV that they're bringing in to replace Byron when his contract is up at the end of the year." Okay, Daniel was confused. What did this have to do with Mode being very busy?

"Who's Byron?"

"Suzuki is Byron and his wife told me that he's taking a job on Wake up America. Look, that's not important. What is important is that as of three minutes ago the world now knows that you got Amanda pregnant." That's when he heard an explosive argument coming out of the living room. Apparently even with Justin not there the television was stuck on Fashion TV. Hilda is currently yelling at her sister for not telling her about the baby.

"I hate that bitch." Daniel said as the room behind him descended into a combination of rapid French and Spanish.

"We all do. I'll send you a text message if anything changes. Have a safe flight and I will see you in September. You still can't tell me where Amanda is?" She asked as an afterthought.

"No." Daniel said ending the call.

"I don't know why you're so upset now." Betty said as Daniel entered the living room. "You knew Amanda was pregnant before I did. You even knew that it was a possibility before I did that Daniel was the father. Why are you screaming at me now?"

"But now we know for sure." It was a feeble excuse.

"It doesn't change anything. You have no idea what's going on here." Betty said biting her lip. He knew all the lying was hard for her.

"We have to leave for the airport soon and because papá is moving to California I will need to take extra stuff with me. I need to finish packing." Betty said leaving from the room.

"I'm not going to stand here and defend myself. Yes Amanda's babies are not Matt's. Yes, I am going to help her raise the children. No I'm not leaving, Betty's so don't ask. The wedding is still on. Betty knew about the situation before she said yes. Yes, I am fully aware that Betty is too good for me." Daniel said before Hilda could say anything.

"Thank you for having us and your home and we will see you soon." He said turning to Mr. Suarez. "Mom, we'll speak with you later. DJ be ready to leave in 30 minutes." With that Daniel left to find his girlfriend. She's currently repacking her suitcase for the eighth time.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Not really. Did you hear what she said?"

"Not all of it. She's not happy that I got someone else pregnant and thinks that you can do better."

"Essentially, although I think there's more. I think she's jealous that Amanda is pregnant with twins and she had a miscarriage even if she says otherwise." Betty said in her sister's defense.

"She shouldn't have said that. Everyone else defended you." That made Daniel fell slightly better.

"The last part is true. You really can do better." He said putting an arm around her.

"I don't think I could. You're pretending to be the father of someone else's children to keep three people alive. You're a good person Daniel." She said kissing him gently on the lips.

"Are we doing the right thing?" he asked as she pulled away.

"Protecting innocent life is always the right thing." Mr. Suarez said as he entered the room.

"How much of that did you hear?" Betty asked as she pulled away from Daniel's arms.

"Enough. Daniel's not the father of Amanda's baby, is he?"

"Not biologically but that really doesn't matter." Daniel told him.

"No, it doesn't. That's why I am okay with you marrying my daughter." He said smiling before giving some other advice.

"Take care of yourself in London." He said a few minutes later when he finally left.

"I promise we will come see you in a couple of months. It's going to be weird coming out to LA." His girlfriend said realizing that this would probably be the last time she would be in her childhood home. He wonders if she realizes that they already have a new home together.

* * *

Tiffany stood in her kitchen making lunch for the two teenagers in the other room. Her husband of seven years was out. He's usually out when her son's boyfriend is over. She likes Justin despite the fact that he's a boy and her husband's only consolation is his stepson is still a proud member of the baseball team. She is sure said husband will be happy that Justin will be spending the summer in London and was already coming up with girls to try to set up his stepson with. She already knows that it's futile. His boyfriend maybe bisexual but her son is gay. Fortunately, Austin will be able to avoid his stepfather by spending the summer at Meade publications with his half-brothers.

She doesn't know how she feels about that. If she knew Matt Hartley had anything to do with Mode Magazine she would have said no to the paid internship. But she couldn't back out now. Austin would ask too many questions and she wasn't ready to answer any of those. He knows nothing about the circumstances of his birth. He actually believes that she went to a sperm bank because she was so lonely after all her family died. She wasn't ready for him to know the truth. He had no idea that most of his life was based on a lie or that he has lots of family that he has never met. She's already thankful for the fact that Austin looks a lot more like her than his father. The more time he spent with Matt the more likely he would start asking questions. She wasn't sure she could keep lying.

Her thoughts were broken by a knock at the door. She assumed that her son would get it but he didn't. This causes her to leave her kitchen.

She realizes why he did not when she notices that neither teenager is in the living room. She was sure she knew what they were doing in Austin's bedroom. Unfortunately, neither her or Justin's mom can really say anything about that. They both had the misfortune of getting pregnant by the wrong guy.

At least in the case of Justin's mom, her only consequence was being a single parent. Tiffany spent the last 15 years living under an assumed name unable to even see her mother on her deathbed. She didn't want to come back to New York but the economy was bad and this was the only place her husband was able to get a job. It's been 15 years and she didn't expect to run into anybody from her old life. But then seven days ago that all changed.

When she looked out the peephole, there was nothing there but a bouquet of roses. She wonders if this was an apology present from her husband. He would do something stupid like get her almost dead roses. However, the note told her that they obviously did not come from him.

_Do you remember what I said last time what would happen if you came back to New York? You didn't listen, remember, I don't make empty threats._

The letter wasn't signed but she knew who it was from. 16 years ago she allowed that woman to take her life away but she wouldn't allow her to do it this time. She wasn't going to run away again. She wasn't going to take her son away from his new life. She would not run away this time.

End of Part One

* * *

I plan to take at least a four month hiatus from this story. However, there will be an interlude or maybe a short story composed of diary entries from Justin that will go up during the middle of the hiatus.


End file.
